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Warker« of iht World, I ntif i
THESES
and
RESOLUTIONS
•dopted al the
Third World Congress of the
Communist International
I June ttn^-^oh 12ih, IfSli
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THESES
and
RESOLUTIONS
adopted at the
Third World Congress of the
Communist International si <^'oy\f
(June 22nd— July 12th, 1921)
PRICE 50 CENTS
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Published by
The Contemporary Publishing Association,
New York City. 1921
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CON.TENTS
Theses on the Internatioiial Situation and the Prob- ^
lems of the Communist International h^
Theses on Tactics '^^
Report of the Executive Committee 71
The Organization Construction of the Communist
Parties and the Methods and Scope of their Activity.. 75
The Organization of the Communist International 115
The March Action and the Situation in the United
Communist Part of Germany 118
Theses on the Tactics of the Russian Communist Party 120
The Tactics of the Russian Communist Party 130
The Communist International and the Red Interna-
tional Trade Unions 131
Theses on the Work of Communists in the Co-operative
Societies 150
The Third Congress of the Communist International
and the Work in the Co-operative Movement. 154
Theses on Ways an4 Means of Work Among the
Women of the Communist Party 155
<=Si International Union Among Women Communists and
• ^1 the international Secretariat of Women Communists 179
Forms and Methods of Communist Activity Among
Women 181
,^ The Communist International and the Young Commu-
-r- nist Movement 184
7t To the German Proletariat! Declaration of Sympathy
^^ With Max Hoelz 189
A Call to New Work and New Struggles, Addressed to
the Proletariat ot All Countries by the Executive
Committer of tb^ Communist International , ,t,MMt.» 190^ t
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THESIS ON THE INTERNATIONAL SITUA-
TION AND THE PROBLEMS OP THE
COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL
Adopted at the I6th Session, July 4, 1921^
1. The Root of the Problem.
1. The revolutionary movement at the close of the
imperialivjt wslt and during the succeeding period has
been marked by unprecedented intensity. The month
of March, 1917, witnessed the overthrow of Tzarism. In
May, 1917, a vehement strike movement broke out in
England. In November, 1917, the Russian proletariat
seized the power of Government The month of Novem-
ber, 1918, marked the downfall of the German and
Austro-Hungarian , monarchies. In the course of the
succeeding year, a number of European countries were
being swept by a powerful strike movement constantly
gaining in scope and intensity. In March, 1919, a Sov-
iet Republic was inaugurated in Hungary. At the close
of that year the United States was convulsed by tur-
bulent strikes involving the steel workers, miners and
railwaymen. Following the January and March battles
of 1919 the revolutionary movement in Germany reached
its culminating point shortly after the Kapp uprising in
March, 1920. The internal situation in France became
. most tense in the month of May, 1920. In Italy we wit-
nessed the constant growth of unrest among the indus-
trial and agrarian proletariat leading, in September, 1920,
to the seizure, of factories, mills and estates by the work-^ t
Digitized by L3OOQIC
I 073
-6 —
ers. In December, 1920, the Czech proletariat resorted to
the weapon of the prbletarian.mass strike. March, 1921,
marked the uprising of workers in Central Germany and
the coal miners' strike in England .
Having reached its highest point in those countries
which had been involved in the war, particularly in the
defeated countries, the revolutionary movement spread
to the neutral countries as well. In Asia and in Africa,
the movement aroused and intensified the revolutionary
spirit of the great masses of the colonial countries. But
this powerful revolutionary wave did not succeed in
sweeping away international capitalism, nor even the
capitalist order of Europe itself.
2. A number of uprisings and revolutionary battles
have taken place during the year that elapsed between
the Second and Third Congress of the Communist In-
ternational, which resulted in sectional defeats (the Red
Army offensive near Warsaw in August, 1920, the move-
ment of the Italian proletariat in September, 1920, and
the uprising of the German workers in March, 1921).
Following the close of the war which has been charac-
terized by the elemental nature of its onslaught by the
considerable formlessness of its methods and aims, and
th6 extreme panic of the ruling classes, the first 'period
of the revolutionary movement may now be regarded as
having reached its termination. The self-confidence of
the bourgeoisie as a class, and the apparent stability of
its government apparatus have undoubtedly become
strengthened. The panic of Communism haunting the
bourgeoisie, not having! disappeared, has neverthelesa
somewhat relaxed. The leading spirits of the bourgeoisie
are now even boasting of the might of their government
apparatus, and have assumed the offensive against the
laboring masses ever3rwhefe, on both the economic and
the political fields.
3. This situation presents the following quettlont to
Digitized by VjOOQIC
— 7 —
the Communist International and to the entire working
class:
To what extent does this transformation in the rela-
tions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat cor-
respond to the actual balance of the contending forces?
Is it true that the bourgeoisie is about to restore the
social balance which had been upset by the war? Is
there any ground to suppose that the period of political
upheaval and of class-wars is going to be superseded* by
a new epoch of restoration and capitalist development?
Does not this necessitate revision of program or tac-
tics of the Communist International? y
II. The War, Artificial Business Stimulatiim.
The Crisis and the Countries of Europe.
4. The high tide of capitalism was reached in the two
decades preceding the war. The intervals of prosperity
were superseded by periods of depression of compara-
tively shorter duration and intensity. The general trend
was that of an upward curve: the capitalist countries
were growing rich.
Having scoured the world market through their trusts,
cartels, and consortiums, the masters of world-capital-
ism well realized that this mad growth of capitalism
will finally strike a dead wall confining the limits of the
capacity of the market created by themselves. They
therefore tried to get out of the difficulty by a surgical
method. In place of a lengthy period of economic de-
pression which was to follow and result in wholesale
destruction of productive resources, the bloody crisis of
the world war was ushered in to serve the same pur-
pose.
But the war proved not only extremely destructive in
Its methods, but also of an unexpectedly lengthy dura*
tibn. So that besides the economic destruction of the
'•surplus" productive resources, it also weakened^ shat-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
— 8 —
tered, and undermined the fundamental apparatus of
European production. At the same time it gave a power-
ful impetus to the capitalist development of the United
States and quickened the aggrandisement of Japan.
I'hus the centre of gravity of world industry was shifted
irom Europe to America.
5. The period following upon the termination of the
four years' slaughter, the demobilization of the armies,
the transition to a peaceful state of affairs, and the in-
evitable economic crisis coming as a result of the ex-
haustion and chaos caused by the war^ — ^all this was re-
garded by the bourgeoisie with the greatest anxiety as
the approach of the most critical moment. As a matter
of fact during the two years following the war, the coun-
tries involved became the arena of a mighty movement
of the proletariat.
One of the chief causes which enabled the bourgeoisie
to preserve its dominant position was furnished by the
fact that the first months after the war, instead of bring-
ing about the seemingly unavoidable crisis, were marked
by economic prosperity. This lasted approximately for
one year and a half. Nearly all the demobilized workers
were absorbed in industry. As a general rule wages did
not catch up with the cost of living, but they nevertheless
kept rising, and that created the illusion of economic
gains.
It was just this commercial and industrial revival of
1919 and 1920 which, to some extent, relieved the tension
of the postwar period, that caused the bourgeoisie to as-
sume an extremely self-confident air, and to proclaim the
advent of a new era of organic capitalist development.
But as a matter of fact, the industrial revival of 1919-20
was not in essence the beginning of the regeneration of
capitalist industry, but a mere prolongation of the
artifficially stimulated state of industry and commerce,
which was created by the war, and which undermined
the economy of capitalism.
6. The outbreak of the imperialist war coincided
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— 9 —
with the industrial crisis which had its origin in
America (1913) and began to hover menacingly over
Europe. The normal development of the industrial cycle
was checked by the war, which had itself become the
most powerful economic factor. It created an unlimited
market for the basic branches of industry and made
them secure against competition. The war played
the part of an insatiable customer ever in want of goods. The
manufacture of productive commodities was supplanted
by the fabrication of the means of destruction. Millions of
people not engaged in production, but in work of de-
struction, were continuously using up necessities of life
at ever-increasing prices. This process is the cause of
the present economic decline. By the contradictions
of capitalist society the masters lent the cloak of pros-
perity to this ruinous prospect. The state kept issuing
loan after loan, one issue of paper money followed upon
another, till state accounting began to be carried on in
billions instead of millions. The wear and tear of ma-
chinery and of equipment was not repaired. The culti-
vation of land |was in a bad state. Public construction in
the cities and on the high-roads were discontinued. At
the same time the number of government bonds, credit
and treasury bills and notes kept growing incessantly.
Fictitious capital increased in proportion as productive
capital kept diminishing. The credit system instead of
serving as a medium for the circulation of goods, be-
came the means whereby national property, including
that which is to be created by the growing generations,
was being mobilized for military purposes.
The capitalist State, dreading the impending crisis,
continued after the war to follow the same policy as it
did during the war, namely: new issues of paper money,
new loans, regulation of prices of prime necessities,
guaranteeing of profits, government subsidies and other
additions of salaries and wages plus military censorship
and military dictatorship.
7. At the same time the termination of hostilities.
lOOgle
I 073
— 10 —
and the. renewal of international relations limited
though it was, brought out a demand for various com-
modities from all parts of the globe. Large stocks of
products were left without use during the war, and the
enormous sums of money centered in the hands of dealers
and speculators were mobilized by them to where th^
could produce the largest profits. Hence the feverish
boom accompanied by an unusual rise of prices and
fantastic dividends, while in reality none of the basic
branches of industry, anywhere in Europe, approached
the prewar level.
8. By means of a continuous derangement of the
economic system, accumulation of inflated capital, de<
preciation of currency, (speculation instead of economic
restoration) the bourgeois governments in league with
the banking combines and industrial trusts succeeded in
putting off the beginning of the economic crisis till the
moment when the political crisis consequent upon the
demobilization and the first squaring of accounts was
somewhat allayed.
Thus, having gained a considerable breathing space,
the bourgeoisie imagined that the dreaded crisis had been
removed for an indefinite time. Optimism reigned su-
preme. It appeared as if the needs of reconstruction
had opened a new era of lasting expansion of industry,
commerce and particularly speculation. But the year
1920 proved to have been a period of shattered hopes.
The crisis — financial, commercial and industrial, be-
gan in March, 1920. Japan saw the beginning of it in
the month of April. In the United States, it opened by
a slight fall of prices in January. Then it passed on to
England, France and Italy (in April). It reached the
neutral countries of Europe, then Germany and extended
to all the countries involved in the capitalist sphere of
influence during the second half of 1920.
9. Thus th4 crisis of 1920 is not a periodic stage of
"normal" industrial cycle, but a profound reaction cons^
quent upon the artificial stimulation that prevailed during the
Digitized by LjOOQiC
~ 11 —
war and during the two years thereafter and tms based upon
ruination and exhaustion.
The upward curve of industrial development was
marked by turns of good times followed by crises. Dur-
ing the last seven years, however, there was no rise in
the productive forces of Europe but, on the contrary,
they kept at a downward sweep.
The crumbling of the very foundation of industry is
only beginning and is going to proceed along the whole
line.
European economy is going to contract and expand
during a number of years to come. The curve marking
the productive forces is going to decline from the pres-
ent fictitious level. The expansions are going to be only
short lived and of a speculative nature to a considerable
extent, while the crises are going to be hard and lasting.
The present European crisis is one of under-production.
It is the form in which destitution reacts against the
striving to produce trade, and resume life on the usual
capitalist level.
10. Of all countries of Europe, England is economical-
ly the' strongest and* has been the least damaged by the
war but, even with regards to this country, one cannot
say that it ha^, in any way, gained its capitalist equili-
brium after the war. Owing to its international orjfan-
ization and to the fact that it came out victorious from
the war, England did indeed, achieve some commercial
and financial success. It improved its commercial bal-
ance, it raised the rate of the pound and reached an ac-
counting surplus in its budget. But, in the industrial sphere,
England, after the war, not only did not progress, it made
big strides backward. The productivity of labor in England
today and her national income are much below that of th«
pre-war period. The coal industry, which is the fundamen-
tal branch of her national economy, is getting ever worse
and worse, pulling down all the other branches of industry.
The incessant disturbances caused by the strikes arc not tfae^^^T^
•^ Digitized byVjOOQlc
-12-
cause but the consequence of the derangement of Eng-
lish economy.
11. The war has brought about the irretrievable economic
ruin of France, Belgium and Italy. The attempt to restore
the economic situation of France at the expense of Gennany
is nothing but crass robbery coupled with diplomatic extor-
tion which spells the fitrtber ruination of Germany (coal,
machinery^ cattle, gold) without, however, bringing about
the salvation of France. This attempt is causing heavy dam-
age to the entire economy o£ Continental Europe. France
is gaining much less than Germany is losing. And in spite
of the fact that the French peasants have through super-
human exertions recovered for agricultural use large tracts
of the devastated district; in spite of the fact that certain
industries (for example, the cliemical industry and war in-
dustries) made a swing upwards during the war, neverthe-
less, France is rapidly steering towards economic niin. State
debts and government expenses (on militarism) have
reached an insupportable amount. At the close of the re-
cent economic advance French currency had dropped to 60%
of its face value. Owing to the heayy- losses in man*power
caused by the war— which cannot be madegoo.d since the
increase of population is in a stagnant condition' — the econ-
omic reconstruction of France cannot be brought about. The
*same is true, barring some deviations, with regard to the
economic position of Italy and Belgium.
12, A strifeing illustration of the illusory nature of
this kind of business expansion is presented by Germany,
.where a seven-fold increase in prices coincided with a
shap decline of production. Germany won her apparent
success in international trade relations at the cost of
both tjie deterioration of the nation's basic capital (the
destruction of industry, transportation and credit sys-
tems) and the progressive lowering of the standard of
living of her working class. From the social economic
standpoint the profits gained by German exporters re-
present pure loss. For, this export in reality amounts
-.13— • •
to selling out the country's resources at a low price.
While the capitalist masters of Germany are securing
for themselves a. constantly increasing share of the ever-
decreasing national wealth, the workers of the country
are becoming the coolies of Europe.
13. As to the smaller neutral countries, they preserve
their deceptive political independence thanks to the an-
tagonistic contentions of the great powers and maintain
their economic existence on the outskirts of the world
market, whose essential nature used to be determined in the
anti-bellum period by England, Germany, America and
France.
During the war the bourgeoisie of thes6 countries were
making enormous profits, but the devastation of those
countries which had been involved in the war led to the
economic .disorganization of these neutral countries as
well. Their debts have increased, their currency ex-
change has dropped. The crisis spares them no blows.
III. The United States, Japan, Colonial Countries
and Soviet Russia.
14. The development of the United States during Jie
war proceeded, in a certain sense, in an opposite direc-
tion to that of Europe. The part played by the United
States in the war was chiefly that of a salesman. The
destructive consequences of the war had no direct eflfect
upon that country, and the damage caused to its trans-
•port, agriculture, etc-,* was only of an indirect nature
and of a far smaller degree than that caused to England,
not to speak of either France or Germany. At the same
time, the United States, taking full advantage of the fact
that European competition had either been remqyed en-
tirely or had become extremely Aveak, succeeded in rais-
ing some of its most important industries (such as pe-
troleum production, ship-building, automobile and coal
industry) to such a height as it had never anticipated.
Today most of the countries of Europe are ^^P^"^V^ooaIp
igi ze y ^
— 14 —
on America not only for their petroleum and gram, but
also for their coal.
While America's cxoort prior to the war consisted
chiefly of agricultural products and raw materials (mak-
ing up more than two-thirds of the entire export), her
main export at the present time is made up of manufac-
tured articles (60 per cent of her entire export). Having
been in debt prior to the war, the United States is now
the world's creditor, concentrating! within 5ier coffers
about one-Jialf of the world's gold reserve and contin-
ually augmenting her treasury. The dominating part
played by the pound sterling has now been taken over
by the American dollar.
15. This extraordinary expansion of American indus-
try was caused by a special combination of circumstances
namely: the withdrawal of European competition and,
above all, the demands of the European war market. But,
American capitalism today has also got out of balance.
Since devastated Europe as a competitor of America is
not in a position to regain its pre-war role on the world
market, the American market as well can preserve only
an insignificant part of its former position with Europe
as a customer. At the same time America today is pro-
ducing goods for export purposes to a much greater ex-
tent than prior to the war. The over-expansion of
American industry, during the war cannot find any out-
let owing to the scarcity of world markets. As a conse-
quence, many industries have become part time or seas-
onal industries, affording employment to the workers
only part of the year. The crisis in the United States
resulting from the decline of Europe signifies the begin-
ning of a profound and lasting economic disorganization.
This is the result of the fundamental disturbance of the
world's subdivision of labor.
16. Japan also took advantage of the war in order
to extend her influence on the world market. Her develop-
ment has been of a much more limited scope than that
pf the United States and some branches of- Japanese in-
Digitized by v^
f —IS— ' '
duatiy have acquired the character of what miglit be
termed "hothouse** production. Her productive forces
were sufficiently strong to enable her to take hold of
the market while there were no competitors. But they
are utterly insufficient to retain that market in a com-
petitive struggle with the more powerful capitalist coun-
tries. Hence the acute crisis which had its starting point
particularly in Japan.
17. The Transatlantic countries and the colonies
(such as South America, Canada, Australia, China,
Egypt and others), which used to export raw materials
in their turn, took advantage of the rupture in interna-
tional relations for the development of their home indus-
tries. But the world crisis has now involved these coun-
tries as well, and their internal industrial development is
going to be checked, thereby serving as an additional cause
for trade handicaps to England and of the whole of
Europe.
18. Thus, there is no ground whatsoever to speak of
any restoration of lasting balance today either in the
sphere of production, commerce or credit with reference
to Europe or even with reference to the world as a whole.
The economic decline of Europe is still going on and the
decay of the foundation of European industry will mani-
fest itself in the near future.
The exchange of goods on the world market is being
greatly hindered by the devaluation of currency in Westwm
European countries, reaching in some cases 99 per cent.
The incessant rapid fluctuation of the rate of exchange has
converted capitalist production into wild speculation.
The world market is in a state of disorganization.
Europe wants American products for which, however, it
can give nothing -in return. While the body of Europe
is suffering from anemia, that of America is affected
with plethora. The gold standard has been destroyed
and the world market has been deprived of its general
exchange medium.
The only way by which the restoration o^^.f e^ ^^Qogj^
•C73
JQPI
— 16 —
. standard in Europe could be achieved would be by get-
ting the export to exceed the import But this is just what
devastated Europe is not in a condition to do, America,
on the other hand, is trying to check the influx of Euro-
pean goods by raising her tariff.
Thus, Europe has become a bedlam. Prohibitive meas-
ures concerning import and transit and increasing the pro-
tective tariff manifold have been passed by many a state,
England has introduced prohibitive customs duties. The ex-
port as well as the entire economic life of Germany is at the
mercy of the Allies and particularly by the French specula-
tors. The former Austria-Hungary is now broken up into
a number of provinces divided by custom borders* The net
in which the Versailles Treaty has entangled the world is
becoming more and more tightened. The elimination of
Soviet Russia as a market for manufactured goods and as a
supply of raw materials has contributed in a very high de-
gree to the disturbing of the economic equilibrium of the
world,
19. The reappearance of Russia on the world market
is not going to produce any appreciable changes in it,
Russia's means of production have been always com-
pletely dependent upon the industrial conditions of the
rest of the world and this dependence particularly with
regard to the allied countries has become intensified
during the war when her home industry was almost
completely mobilized for war purposes. But the block-
ade cut off these vital connections between Russia and
the other countries. There could be no question of set-
ting up any new branches of industry which were needed
to prevent the general decay caused by the wear and
tear of machinery and equipment in a country com-
pletely exhausted during three years, of incessant civil
war. In addition to this, hundreds and thousands of our
best proletarian elements, comprising a great number of
skilled workers had to be recruited for the Red Army.
Under these conditions, surrounded by the iron ring of
the blockade, carrying on in cessag.^.^.|gj^s(g^ suffering
CJ>
— 17 —
from the heritiage of an industrial collapse no other
regime could have maintained the economic life of the
country and create such conditions as would permit of
centralized administration. There is no denying, how-
ever, that the struggle against world imperialism was
carried on at the price of the progressive diminution of
the productive resources of industry in various branches.
Now, since the blockade has relaxed and the relations
between town and country are becoming more regular,
the Soviet power for the first time, has been enabled to
gradually and steadily direct the country upon the road
to economic prosperity in a centralized manner.
IV. Social Contradictions Intensified.
20. The unprecedented destruction of industrial re-
sources brought about by the war did not check the pro-
cess of social differentiation. Quite the contrary, the
proletarization of the intermediary classes, including the
new middle-groupings of employees, oflG<cials, etc., and
the concentration of wealth in the hands of the small
clique of trusts combines and so on, have, for the last
ten years, made enormous strides in the more backward
countries. The Stinnes combine is now the most im-
portant factor of the economic life of Germany.
The soaring of prices on all commodities coincident
with the catastrophic depreciation of currency in all
countries involved in the war meant a redistribution of
the national incomes to the disadvantage of the work-
ing class, officials, employees and small owners and all -
other persons with a more or less fixed income.
Thus we see that though Europe has been thrown
back for a number of decades as to its material re-
sources, the intensification of the social contradictions
has not only not retrograded or been suspended but has,
on the contrary, assumed a particular acuteness.
This cardinal fact is, of itself, sufficient to dispel any
illusions of the possibility of a lasting and peaceful de-
gitized by Google
•crd
— 18 —
rdopment under a democratic form of Government. Th0
social differentiation proceeding along the line of economic
decline predetermines the most intense convtdsive and cruel
nature of the class struggle.
The present crisis is only a continuation of the de-
structive work done by the war and the post-bellum
speculative boom.
2L The prices of agricultural products have risen, bring-
ing about an apparent prosperity in the country and increas-
ing in reality the income and the property of the rich peas-
antry. The peasants thus succeeded in paying off the debts
contracted by him in currency at its full value with the aid
of the paper money which he had accumulated in large
quantities. But the paying off of mortgages is not the only
thing necessary for agricultural prosperity. In spite of the
enormous increases of the prices of farm land,, in spite of
the advantage unscrupulously taken of the situation by the
monopolists of prime necessities, and in spite of the fact that
the big landlords and owners of large farm estates have
grown rich, the agricultural situation of Euorpe has unmis-
takably declined. We witness a great retrogression of ex-
tensive agriculture, the conversion of farmland into pas-
ture farmsteads deprived of cattle, three-field farming, etc.
This decline has been caused also by the lack of labor power,
by the decline of cattle breeding, by the lack of fertilizer,
by the increase of prices on manufactured goods, and in
Central and Eastern Europe also by the intentional curtail-
ment of agricultural production coming as a result of the at-
tempt made by the state to get hold of the products of agri-
culure. The owners of large, and partly also, of medium
farms have organized strong political and economic organi-
zations in order to protect themselves against the burdens
imposed upon them by the needs of reconstruction and are
tdking advantage of the embarrassment of the bourgeoisie to
^et the government to pass tariff and taxation measures fa-
vorable to them, as a reward for the support they are ren-
dering the bourgeoisie in its atruggle against the proletaris^ti
jOOgl .
-19^.
In this manner they hamper the reconstruction of capitalist
economy. Thus here arose a conflict of interests between
the town and the country bourgeoisie which impairs the
strength of the bourgeoisie as a class.
At the same time large numbers of the poorer peasantry
have become proletarians and paupers, the village has be-
come a breeding place of discontent, and the class-conscious-
ness of the country proletariat has become sharpened.
On the other hand, the general improvement of Europe,
making it incapable of purchasing sufficient American grain,
has caused a heavy crisis in the farm industry across the
ocean. We are approaching a crisis of peasant and farming
economy, not only in Europe, but also in the United States,
Canada, Argentine, Australia and South Africa.
22. Owing to the fall of the purchasing power of
money, the position of the State and private employees
has, as a rule, become even worse than that of the pro-
letarians. Having lost their usual stability the middle
and lower officials are becoming factors of political un-
rest and undermine the Government apparatus which
they are callied upon to serve. This "new middle estate"
which has been regarded by the Reformists as the bul-
wark of conservatism, can be utilized as a factor in the
revolution in the present transitional period.
23. Capitalist Europe has completely lost its domin-
ating position in the world economy. But it was just
this domination that had lent some relative equilibrium
between its social classes. All the efforts of the Euro-
pean countries (England and partly France) to restore
former conditions only tend to intensify their instability
and disorganization.
24. While the concentration of wealth going on in
Europe, has its foundations in the ruinous conditions of
that Continent, in the United States the concentration
of property and the extreme intensification of class dis-
tinctions are proceeding on the basis of the feverish
growth of capitalist accumulation. The class struggle
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— 20 —
now being waged on American soil is assuming an extremely
tense revolutionary character owing to the sharp vacil-
lations produced by the general instability of the world mar-
ket. The period of an unprecedented rise of capitalism is
bound to be followed by an extraordinary rise of revolu-
tionary struggle.
25. ' The emigration of workers and peasants across
the ocean has always served as a safety-valve to the capi-
talist regime in Europe. It grew during prolonged pe-
riods of depression and after unsuccessful revolutionary
outbreaks. At present, however, America aYid Australiai
are putting ever-growing obstacles in the way of emi-
gration. Thus, this safety-valve, so necessary to the capi-
talist regime, has ceased to exist. .
26. The vigorous development of capitalism in the
East, particularly in India and in Oiina, has created new
social foundations for the revolutionary struggle. The
bourgeoisie of the Eastern countries has bound up its
fate even more closely with foreign capital, and has thus
become a very important weapon of capitalist domina-
tion. The contest between this bourgeoisie and foreign
imperialism is the contest of a weaker competitor against his
stronger rival, and fs by its very nature only half-hearted
and ineffective. The development of the native proletariat
paralyzes the nationalistic-revolutionary tendencies of the
capitalist bourgeoisie. At the same time the great masses of
the peasants of the Oriental countries, look upon the Commu-
nist vanguard as their real revolutionary leader. This is par-
ticularly true of the more progressive elements of these
masses.
The combination of the military nationalistic oppres-
sion of foreign imperialism, of the capitalist exploitation
by foreign and native bourgeoisie, and the survivals of
feudalism are creating favorable conditions in which
the }'()ung ])roletariat of the colonial countries must
develop rapidly and take the lead in the revolutionary
movement of the peasant ms^sses.
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— 21 -^
The revolutionary national movement in India and in
other colonies is today an essential component part of
the world revolution to the same extent as the uprising
of the proletariat in the capitalist countries of the old
and the new world.
V. International Relations.
27. The economic conditions of the world in general
and the decline of Europe in particular presage a long
period of hard times, disturbances, crises of a general
and partial character and so forth. The international re-
lations inaugurated by the war and the Versailles Treaty
are rendering the situation more and more hopeless. 'The
trend of the economic forces tending to sweep away na-
tional boundaries and convert -Europe and the rest of
the world into one economic territory gave birth to im-
perialism. Buit, on the other hand, the struggle between
the contending forces of this imperialism led to the cre-
ation of a multiplicity of new national boundaries, new
custom-barriers and new armies. In regard to State
administration and economy, Europe has been thrown
back to the Middle Ages.
The soil which has been exhausted and laid waste is
now being called upon to feed an army one and a half times
as large as that of 1914, in the hey-day of "armed peace."
28. The policy of France which is playing a dom-
inant part in Europe today, is based upon the following
two principles:
The blind rage of the usurer, ready to strangle an in-
solvent debtor and the greed of predatory big industry
striving to create preliminary conditions for* industrial im-
^ perialism to supplant bankrupt financial imperialism with the
aid of the Saar, Ruhr and Upper Silesian coal basins.
But this striving runs counter to the interests of Eng-
land, whose aim is to keep the German coal away from
the French ore which, if brought together, would create^ t
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— 22 —
one of the most important conditions necessary for the re-
construction of Europe.
29. Great Britain today has reached the high-water
mark of her power. Not only has she retained all the
dominions, but she has also acquired new ones. Never-
theless, it is just at this moment that it is becoming
most evident that the dominating international posi-
tion of England stands in contradiction to her actual eco-
nomic decline. German capitalism technically and or-
ganizationally much more progressive than that of Eng-
land, has been crushed by force of arms. The United
States, which has made both Americas economically sub-
ject to her, has now eome out as a triumphant rival even more
menacing than Germany was. The productivity of labor and
of industry in the United States, owing to its superior or-
ganization and technique, is now above that of England.
Within the territory of the United States from 65 to 70
per cent of the world's petroleum is being produced upon
which depends the automobile industry, tractor produc-
tion, the fleet and aviation. England's century-old mon-
opoly in the coal market has been decisively broken. America
has now assumed first place and her European export is
ominously increasing. America's commercial marine has
nearly come up to that of England. Nor is the United States
content to put up any longer with England*s cable monopoly.
Great Britain has taken up a defensive position with r^ard
to her industry and is now resorting to protective legislation
against the United States under the guise of combatting the
"unwholesome" German competition. Finally, while the
English fleet, comprising a large number of battleships
of the old type, has been checked in its further develop-
ment, the IJarding administration has taken up the
Wilsonian program of naval construction intended to
secure the superiority of the American flag on the sea
within the next couple of years.
The situation has become Such that either Englknd
will be automatically pushed back and^^ spite of her
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victory over Germany, will become a second-rate power
or she will be constrained in the very near future to
test in mortal combat with the United States its power
gained in former years.
That is just the reason why England is strengthening
her alliance with Japan and is making concessions to
France in order to secure the latter's assistance or neu-
trality at any rate. The growth of the International role
of the latter country within the European continent dur-
ing last year has been caused not by a strengthening of
France but by the international weakening of England.
Germany's capitulation last May on the indemnity
question signifies, however, a temporary victory for Eng-
land, including as it does a supplementary guarantee of
further economic decay of Central Europe without in
any way excluding seizure by France of the Ruhr dis-
trict and the Upper Silesia basin in the near future.
•30. The antagonism between Japan and the United
States which was! temporarily veiled by the former's
participation in the war against Germany is now devel-
oping with full force. In consequence of the war,
Japan has approached the American coast, Jiaving se-
cured for itself a number of islands oil the Pacific which
are of great strategic importance.
The crisis of Japanese industry, following upon its
rapid expansion, has again put to the front the problem
of emigration. Being very thickly populated and poor
in natural resources, Japan must export either her goods
or her men, but whether she does the one or the other,
she collides with the United States : In California, in China
and on the Yap Islands.
Japan is spending one-half of its budget on the main-
tenance of its army and fleet In the impending struggle
betwcn England and the United States, Japan is going to
play on the sea the same part as that played b;* France
on land during the war with Germany. Japao to-day* is
making use of the antagonism between Great Britain and
America, but, when the final struggle between these two^ t
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— 24—
giants for world hegemony breaks out, Japan is going to
be the battleground of that fight.
31. Both the original causes that called forth the re-
cent great slaughter and the chief combatants that took
part in it marked it as a European war, the crucial point
of which was the antagonism between England and Ger-
many. The intervention of the United States only wid-
ened the scope of the struggle, but it did not divert it
from its original direction. The European conflict was
being settled by world-wide means. The war, having
settled the English-German and German-American
quarrel in its own way, not only did not solve the prob-
lem of the relations between the United States and Eng-
land, but has, for the first time, put that problem promi-
nently forward as one of the first order and the question
oF the American- Japanese as one of the second order.
Thus, the last war was in reality only a prelude to a gen-
uine world war which is to solve the problem of imperialist
autocracy.
32. This, however, forms only one focus of interna-
tional policy which has yet another focus located in the
Russian Soviet federated Republic and the Third Inter-
ntional, brought about by the war. All the forces of the
world revolution are arraying themselves against all the
imperialist combinations.
Whether the alliance between England and France is
going to be maintained or broken up, whether the Anglo-
Japanese treaty is going to be renewed or not, whether
the United States is going to join the League of Na-
tions or not — all this is of little value as far as the inter-
ests of the proletariat or the securing of peace is con-
cerned. The proletariat can see no guarantee for peace in
the vacillating, predatory, and treacherous combinations
of capitalist powers, whose policy turns to an ever-in-
creasing extent around the antagonism between England
and America, fostering that antagonism and preparing
for a new bloody outbreak.
The fact that some of the capitalist governments have
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— 25 —
concluded peace and commercial treaties with Soviet
Russia does not mean that the bourgeoisie of the world
has given up the idea of destroying the Soviet Republic.
What we are witnessing now is nothing but a change, a
temporary change perhaps, of the forms and methods of
•struggle. The uprising caused by the Japanese troops
in the Far East may serve as an introduction to a new
stage of armed intervention.
It is altogether obvious that the longer the revolu-
tionary movement of the world proletariat will go on,
the more inevitably will the bourgeoisie be impelled by
the contradiction of the international economic and po-
litical situation to make another bloody denouement on
a world-wide scale.
If this should come to pass, the "restoration of capi-
talist equilibrium'^ consequent upon a new war would
have to proceed under conditions of economic exhaus-
tion and barbarity in comparison with which the present
state of Europe might be regarded as the height of well-
being. 1
33. In spite of the fact that the late war has fur-
nished terrible evidence that wars are unprofitable
— a truth lying at the bottom of bourgeois and
socialist pacifism — the process "of political, economic,
ideological and technical preparation for a new war, is
going on at full speed all through the capitalist world.
Humanitarian anti-revolutionary pacifism has become an
auxiliary force to militarism.
The social-democrats of every variety and the Am-
sterdam Trade unionists, who are trying to make the
workers of the world believe that they ought to adapt
themselves to the economic and political conditions re-
sulting from the war, are rendering the imperialist bour-
geoisie most valuable services in the matter of prepar-
ing a new slaughter which threatens to completely anni-
hilate civilization. f-^ t
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— 26 —
VI. The Working Class and the Post-Bellum Period.
34. The problem of capitalist reconstruction along the
lines outlined above essentially puts forward the ques-
tion as to whether the working class is willing to bear
any more heavy sacrifices in order to perpetuate its own
slavery, which is going to be even more heavy and more*
cruel than it was prior to the war.
The industrial and economic reconstruction of Europe
requires the setting up of new machinery to replace that
destroyed during the war and the effective recreation of capi-
tal. This would be possible only if the proletariat were
wiUing to work more under a far lower standard of
living. The capitalists are insisting on this, and the
treacherous leaders of the Yellow International urge the
proletariat to assist in the reconstruction of capitalism
in the first place, and then proceed fighting for the bet-
terment of their own conditions. But, the European
proletariat is not ready to make this sacrifice. It demands a
higher standard of living, which is utterly incompatible with
the present state of the capitalist system. Hence the
everlasting strikes and uprisings ; hence the impossibility
of the economic reconstruction of Europe.
To restore the value of paper money means for a
number of European countries (Germany, France, Italy,
Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Balkans, etc.) first of all
to throw off the burden of too heavy obligations, i.e.,
to declare themselves bankrupt; but this would be a
strong impulse to the struggle of all classes for a new
distribution of the national income. To restore the value
of paper money means further reduction of state ex-
penditures to the detriment of the masses (to forego
the regulation of wages and of articles of prime neces-
sity) ; to prevent the import of cheaper foreign manu-
factures and increase the amount of exported articles by
lowering the cost of production which can be achieved,
above all, by increasing the exploitation of labor.
Every real measure tending to restore capitalist
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— 27 —
equilibrium must by the very nature of the case tend
to disturb class equilibrium to a still greater extent than
heretofore, and lend additional impetus to the class war.
Ihus, the attempt at a revival of capitalism involves a
contest of vital forces, of classes and parties. If one of
the two contending classes, namely the proletariat
should decide to refrain from the revolutionary struggle,
the bourgeoisie would undoubtedly establish some sort of
a new capitalist equilibrium, an equilibrium based upon
material and spiritual deterioration, leading to new wars,
to the progressive impoverishment of entire countries,
and to the continuous dying out of these millions of
toiling masses.
3ut the frame of mind of the world proletariat today
furnishes no ground whatever for any such supposition.
35. The elements of stability, of conservatism, and
of tradition have to a considerable extent lost their power
over the minds of the laboring masses. It is true, that
social democracy and the trade unions stiU exercise an
influence over a considerable part of the proletariat,
thanks to the apparatus of organization that has come
down to them from former times . But the nature of this
influence as well as that of the proletariat itself has
undergone considerable changes in no way consistent
with the "step by step" methods of the pre-war period.
In the upper crust of the proletariat the labor bureau-
cracy having grown out of proportion, being closely knit
together, resorting to certain methods of domination
that have become habitual, still preserves its usual posi-
tion and is bound up by numerous ties with the insti-
tutions and organizations of the capitalist state. Then
come those of the rank and file whose position is more
favorable than that of the rest of the workers, who oc-
cupy or look forward to occupying some administrative
post in the industry itself, and on whom the labor bu-
reaucracy mainly relies for its support.
The older generation of socid-democrats and trade
union men consisting in the main of skilled ^Orkcr^QQ^Tp
igi ize y ^
— 28 —
have become attached to theit organizations through de-
cades of struggle and cannot make up their minds to^
sever connections with them, regardless of the treacher-
ous nature of their activity. But, in many industries,
unskilled workers, and female workers are entering the
ranks in considerable numbers.
Millions of workers having gone through the experi-
ence of the war and having acquired the ability to use
the rifle are now prepared to a large extent to turn the
weapons against their class enemies, provided they be
given the strong leadership and serious training which
are essential for victory.
Millions of working men and particularly women have
been newly recruited for industrial pursuits during the war.
These new workers brought with themselves their petty-
bourgeois prejudices. But they also brought along their im-
patient claims for better conditions of life.
There are also millions of young working men and women
who have grown up in the storm and stress of war and
revolution, who are more susceptible to the Communist
ideas and are anxious to act.
The ebb and flow of the gigantic army of unemployed,
some of whom are unattached to any class, while others pos-
sess only partial class attachments, form a striking illustra-
tion of the distintegration of capitalist production and rep-
resent a constant menace to the bourgeois order. All these
proletarian elements, varying so much in origin and charac-
ter, have been enlisting in the post-bellum revolutionary
movement at various times and in varying degrees. This ex-
plains the vacillations, the ebbs and flows, the attacks and re-
treats, characterizing the revolutionary war. But the shat-
tering of old illusions, the terrible uncertainty of existence,
the arbitrary domination of the trusts and bloody methods
of the militarized state— iall these are rapidly welding the
overwhelming majority of the proletarian masses together.
The great masses are searching for a determined and definite
leadership and for a closely welded and centralized Com-
munist Party to take the lead.
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— 29 —
36. During the war, the condition of the working class
became perceptibly worse. It is true some groups of work-
ers improved their condition, and in those cases where
several members of a working man's family were in a posi-
tion to hold their place near the loom, the workers succeeded
in maintaining and even in raising their standard of life. But
as a general rule wages did not keep up with the rise in
prices.
The proletariat of Central Europe has been doomed to
ever-greater privations, ever since the war began. The low-
ering of the standard of life was not so noticeable in the
allied countries till lately. In England, the proletariat
succeeded in stopping the process of lowering the standard
of life by means of an energetic struggle carried on during
the last period of the war. In the United States, some strata
of the workers succeded in improving their conditions, others
only retained their previous standard of living, while still
others had their standard of living lowered.
The economic crisis has come down upon the proletariat
with terrific force. The falling of wages began to exceed the
fall of prices. The number of unemployed and semi-em-
ployed has reached such dimensions as have never been ^
equalled in capitalist history.
The ups and downs in the condition of existence not only
have an unfavorable effect on productivity, but also prevent
the restoration of class equilibrium in its most essential do-
main, that of production. The instability of the conditions
of life reflecting nationally and internationally the general
instability of economic conditions is to-day the most revolu-
tionary factor of social development,
VII. — ^The Perspective and Problems Involved
37. The war did not have as its immediate consequence
a proletarian revolution, and the bourgeoisie has some
ground to register this fact as a great victory for itself.
Only petty bourgeois dullards can imagine that the fact
that the European proletariat did not succeed in overthrow/-^ t
■ ^ Digitized by LjOOgie
— 30-.
ing the bourgeoisie during the war or immediately after it,
is an indication that the programme of the Communist In-
ternational failed. The Communist International is basing
its policy on the proletarian revolution, but this by no
means implies either dogmatically fixing any definite date
for the revolution, or any pledge to bring it about mechani-
cally at a set time. Revolution has always been, and is to-
day, nothing else but a struggle of living forces carried on
within given historic conditions. The war has destroyed
capitalist equilibrium all over the world. It has thus
created conditions favoring the proletariat, which is the
fundamental force of the revolution. The Communist In-
ternational has been exerting all its efforts to take full ad-
vantage of these conditions.
The distinction between the Communist International and
I the Social'Democrats of all colors does not consist in the
/acf that we are trying to force the revolution and set a
I definite date for it while they are opposed to any Utopian
j and immature uprisings. No, the distinction lies in the fact
that Social'Dem^ocrats hinder t^e actual development of the
revolution by rendering all possible assistance in the way of
restoring the equilibrium of the bourgeois state while the
Communists, on the other hand, are trying to take advantage
of all means and methods for the purpose of overtkrorving
and destroying the capitalist government and establishing
the dictatorship of the proletariat.
But, during the two and a half years following the war,
the proletarians of various countries have exhibited their
self-sacrifice, energy, and readiness for the struggle to such
an extent as would amply suffice to make the revolution
triumphant, provided there had been a strongly centralized
international Communist Party on the scene ready for ac-
tion. But, during the war, and immediately thereafter, by
force of historic circumstances, there was at the head of the
European proletariat the organization of the Second Inter-
national which has been and remains up to date, the inval-
uable political weapon in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
38. By the end of 1918 and the beginnmg of 1919, thc
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— 31 —
power of the Government in Germany was practicaUy in
the hands of the working class, but the Socid-Democracy,
the Independents, and the unions used all their traditional in-
fluence and their whole apparatus for the purpose of return-
ing the power into the hands of the bourgeoisie.
In Italy, the stormy revolutionary movement of the prole-
tariat during one and a half years has been marked by power-
ful currents and it was only thanks to the petty bourgeois
impotence of the Socialist Party, to the treacherous policy of
the parliamentary factions, and to the cowardly opportunism
of the trade union organizations, that the bourgeoisie got into
a position to reconstruct its apparatus, to mobilize its white
guards and to assume the offensive against the proletariat
which has thus been temporarily discouraged by the baiik-
ruptcy of its leading organs.
The mighty strike movement in England was frustrated
again and again during the last year, not so much by the
government forces as by the conservative trade unions
whose apparatus was most shamefully used to serve counter-
revolutionary ends. Had the leaders of the trade unions
remained faithful to the cause of the working dass, the
machinery of the trade unions could have been used for
revolutionary battles despite their defects. The recent crisis
of the Tri|Je Alliance furnished the possibility of a break
with the bourgeoisie, but this was frustrated by the con-
servatism, cowardice and treachery of the trade union lead-
ers. Should the machinery of the English trade unions
develop half the amount of energy in the interests of social-
ism which it had been using in the interests of capitalism,
the English proletariat would conquer power and would
start the reconstruction of the economic organization of the
country with only an insignificant amount of sacrifice.
The same refers to a greater or less extent to aM other
capitalist countries.
39. It is absolutely beyond dispute that in many countries
the open revolutionary struggle of the proletariat for power
has been temporarily delayed. But, in the very nature of jOOqIc
32 —
lii
the case, it was impossible to expect that the revolutionary
offensive after the war not having resulted in an immediate
victory should, go on developing incessantly along an upward
curve. Political evolution proceeds in cycles and has its ups
and downs. The enemy does not remain passive, but fights
for his existence. If the offensive of the proletariat does
not lead to direct victory, the bourgeoisie embraces the first
opportunity for a counter-offensive. The proletariat in
losing some of its positions which were too easily won usu-
ally experience some temporary depression in its ranks. But
it is an undoubted mark of our time that the curve of the
capitalist evolution proceeds, through temporary rises, con-
stantly 'dozvnwards, while the curve of revolution proceeds
through some vacillations constantly upwards.
». Since the reconstruction of capitalism presupposes a great
intensification of exploitation, the annihilation of millions
of lives, the lowering of millions of other lives below the
minimum of existence, the constant insecurity of the condi-
tions of the proletariat, the working class will be forced to
repeated revolts, to continuous strikes and riots. Under
this pressure and in the course of these struggles the will of
the masses to overthrow the capitalist order will grow in
strength.
40. The fundamental task of the Communist Party in
the current crisis is to conduct, extend, widen and unite the
present defensive fight of the proletariat and sharpen it
towards the final political struggle in accordance with the
course of evolution. Should, however, the pace of develop-
ment slacken and the present economic crisis be followed by
a period of prosperity in a greater or less number of coun-
tries, this would by no means be an indication of the be-
ginning of the "organic" epoch. So long as capitalism exists
periodic vacillations are inevitable. These vacillations are
going to accompany capitalism in its death agony as was the
case during its youth and maturity. In case the proletariat
should be forced to retreat under the onslaught of capitalism
in the course of the present crisis, it will immediately resume
the ofTensive, as soon as a more fayorable-^combmcition ot
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circumstances sets in. The offensive character of the eco-
nomic struggle of the proletariat which would inevitably be
carried on under the slogan of revenge for all the deceptions
of the war period, and for all the plunder and abuses of the
crisis, will tend to turn into an open civil War just as the
present defensive stage of the struggle does.
41. Whether the revolutionary movement in the near
future is going to proceed at a rapid or protracted rate, the
Communist Party must, in either case, be the party of action.
This Party stands at the head of the struggling masses. It
must firmly and clearly formulate its slogans and must
expose and sweep aside all equivocal slogans of the Social
Democrats, which always tend toward compromise. What-
ever the turns in the course of the struggle, the Communist
Party should always strive to fortify the contested positions,
to get the masses used to active manouevering, to equip
them with new methods calculated to lead to an open conflict
with the enemy forces. Taking advantage of every breath-
in space offered in order to appreciate the experience of the
preceding phase of the struggle, the Communist Party
should strive to deepen and widen the class conflicts, to com-
bine them nationally and internationally by unity of goal
and practical activity, and in this way, at the head of the
proletariat, shatter all resistance on the road to its dictator-
ship and the social revolution.
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THESIS ON TACTICS
1. Definition of the Problem
\ 'The new international labor organization is established
for the purpose of organizing united action of the world
proletariat, aspiring toward the same goal; the overthrow
of capitalism, the establishment of the dictatorship of the
proletariat, and of an International Soviet Republic, for the
complete elimination of classes and the realization of Social-
ism, the first step toward the Communist Commonwealth/'
This definition of the aims of the Communist International,
laid down in the statutes, distinctly defines all the questions
of tactics to be solved. They are the tactical problems of
our struggle for the proletarian dictatorship. They deal with
che means of winning over the majority of the working class
to the principles of Communism, of organizing the socially
important elements of the proletariat in the struggle for its
( attainment, the attitude to be assumed toward the proletar-
) ized petty-bourgeois elements, the way and means of disrupt-
ing the organs of bourgeois power, and destroying them.
And they deal, finally, with the ultimate, international battle
for the dictatorship. The problems of the dictatorship per
, se^ as being the only way to victory, constitute no part of this
discussion/^ The development of the world revolution fias
proved beyond any doubt that there is only a single alterna-
tive in the given historical situation, either capitalist or pro-
letarian dictatorship. The Third Congress of the Commu-
nist International is proceeding to renewed investigation of
the problems of tactics at a time when the objective situation
in a number of countries has grown critically revolutionary,
and a number of communist mass parties have come into
being. None of these, however, can claim to possess the
actual leadership of the majority of the working class in the
real revolutionary struggle. ^^ ,
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— 35 —
' 2. On the Eve of New Battles
The world revolution, i. e., the decay of capitalism, and
the concentration of the revolutionary energy of the pro-
letariat, its organization into an aggressive, victorious power,
will require a prolonged period of revolutionary struggle.
The variations in the sharpness of the social antagonisms and
in the social structures of the various countries, and there-
fore in the obstacles to be overcome, the high degree of or-
ganization of the bourgeoisie in the capitalist countries of
Western Europe and North America, prevented the imme-
diate victory of the world revolution as a result of the world
war. The Communists were therefore right in declaring,
zvhile the war was still raging, that the period of imperialism
uKis developing into the epoch of social revolution, i. e., of a
long series of civil wars in a number of capitalist countries,
and of wars between the capitalist states on one side and
proletarian states and exploited colonial peoples on the other
side.
The world revolution is not a process following absolutely
straight lines ; on the contrary, the periods of the chronic de-
cay of capitalism and the daily, revolutionary, undermining
activity become at times acute, and develop into severe crises.
The course of the world revolution was also retarded by
strong labor organizations and labor parties, such as the So-
cial Democratic parties and the trade unions, which, though
established by the proletariat for the conduct of its struggle
against the bourgeoisie, turned into organs for counter-revo-
hitionary agitation and paralyzing of the proletariat during
the war. They continued these practices after the war had
ended. This made it easy for the world bourgeoisie to mas-
ter the crisis during the period of demobilization, and to
raise new hopes among the proletariat, during the sham
prosperity of 1919-1920, of a possible improvement of con-
ditions under capitalism. To these causes may be attrib-
uted the defeat of the revolts during 1919, and the pro-
tracted tempo of the revolutionary movements during 1919-
1920. ^ ,
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UfO
— 36 —
The universal economic crisis beginning in the middle of
1920 has since extended over the entire world. With
increasing unemployment on every hand, it is proof to the
international proletariat that the bourgeoisie is powerless to
reconstruct the world, even capitalistically, that is, on the
basis of exploitation. The aggravation of all international
political conflicts, the French campaign to despoil Germany,
the English-American and American- Japanese opposition of
interests, and the consequent rivalry in the augmentation of
armaments — all these facts show that the moribund capital-
istic world is tumbling headlong into world war. Even
the League of Nations, the international trust of the victor-
ious states for the exploitation of their vanquished competi-
tors and the colonial peoples, has been disrupted by the Eng-
li^sh-American rivalry. The illusion by which international
social democracy and trade union bureaucracy restrained the
laboring masses from entering the revolutionary struggle,
this illusion, that they could gradually and peacefully attain
the economic power and consequent independence by the
renunciation of all attempts to conquer political power in
revolutionary combat, is being rapidly dissipated.
The socialization farces in Germany, by the aid of which
the government of Scheidemann-Noske endeavored to hold
the working class back from the attack in March, 1919, have
come to an end. Socialization chatter has given way to
Stinnesisation, the subjection of German industry to a capi-
talist dictator and his allied groups. The attack by the
Prussian Government, led by the Social-Democrat Severing,
on the miners of Middle Germany, is merely the prelude to a
general attack by the German bourgeoisie, for the reduction
of the wages of the German workers. In England all the
nationalization schemes have evaporated into thin air. In-
stead of executing the nationalization plans of the Sankey
Commission, the British Government is employing force to
support the lock-out of the miners. In France, the govern-
ment can only put off its inevitable economic bankruptcy by
a predatory expedition against Germany. There is no ques-
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— 37 —
tion in France of any systematic reconstruction. In fact, the
rehabilitation o^ the devastated districts in Northern France,
as far as it is being undertaken, only serves the enrichment
of private capitalists. In Italy the bourgeoisie, aided by the
white bands of the Fascisti, is waging an offensive against
the working class. In every country, in the old states of
bourgeois democracy, as well as in the new ones that have
arisen out of the imperialistic collapse, bourgeois democ-
racy has been forced to remove its mask. White Guards
and dictatorial powers of the government in England against
the miners' strike; Fascisti and Guardia Regia in Italy; Pink-
ertons, expulsion of Socialist representatives from Congress
and Lynch-Law in the United States ; white terror in Yugo-
slavia, Latvia, Esthonia, Rumania, Finland, Poland, Hun-
gary and the Balkan states; anti-Communist legislation in
Switzerland, etc. On every hand the bourgeoisie is attempt-
ing to burden the working class with the consequences of the
increased economic chaos; to lengthen the working hours and
reduce wages. On every hand it receives assistance from
the leaders of social democracy and of the Amsterdam Trade
Union International, But they cannot hinder the awakening
of the laboring masses to new strife nor can they stem the
revolutionary tide. Even now we see the German proletariat
preparing for the counter-attack and the English miners va-
liantly resisting for weeks in their battle against the mine-
owning capitalists. And this in spite of the treachery of
their trade union leaders ! We see how the experience gained
by the Italian proletariat in respect to the vacillating policy
of the Serrati group, is developing in its front ranks the
will to fight, finding expression in the organization of the
Communist Party of Italy. In France we see how the So-
cialist Party, after the split by which the social-patriots and
centrists were eliminated, begins to proceed from Commu-
nist agitation and propaganda to mass demonstrations
against imperialistic piracy. In Czecho-Slovakia we witness
the politic«J December strike, embracing a million workers in
^pite of the complete lack of unity in organization and the QqqqTp
igi ize y ^
rewltlng organiiation of the Czecho-Slovakian Coimtraiiiil
Party ad a mass organization. In Poland wc had the rafl-
road strike of February under the leadership of the Coat-
munist Party and the general strike which arose out of this,
and we are now witnessing the continual process of disinte-
gration which is affecting the social-patriotic Socialist Party
of Poland. What we are confronted with then is not the
waning of the world revolution, but on the contrary, the ag-
gravation of social antagonisms and social struggles and the
transition to open civil war.
3. The Important Task of the Present.
In view of these imminent new struggles, the question of
the attainment of decisive influence on the most important
sections of the working class, in short, the leadership of
the struggle, is the most important question now confronting
the Third International. For, despite the present objective
revolutionary economic and political situation wherein the
acutest revolutionary crisis may arise suddenly (whether in
the form of a big strike, or a colonial upheaval, or a new
war, or even a severe parliamentary crisis) the majority of
the 'working class is not yet under the influence of Com-
munism. Particularly is this true in such countries, as for
example, England and America, where large strata of work-
ers depending for their existence on the power oi finance-
capital are corrupted by imperialism, and the real revolu-
tionary propaganda among the masses has only just bq^un.
From the very first day of its establishment, the Communist
International distinctly and clearly devoted itself to the pur-
pose of participating in the struggle of the laboring masses,
of conducting this struggle on a Communist basis, and of
erecting, during the struggle, great, revolutionary commu-
nist mass parties. It did not aim to establish small Com-
munist sects which would attempt to influence the masses
solely by propaganda and agitation. In the very first year of
its existence, the Commimist International disavowed all sec-
tarian tendencies. It called upon all the parties affiliated to
it, however small they might be, to enter the unions and from
- 39 -
witWn oreroome the reactionary trade union fiurcaucracy in
order to transform the trade unions into revolutionary mass
organizations of the proletariat, and into efficient organs of
the struggle. In the very first year of its existence, the Com-
munist International called upon the Communist Parties not
to confine themselves to propaganda, but to utilize every
possibility which bourgeois society is compelled to leave open,
for agitation and organisation of the proletariat: Free press,
the right of association, and the bourgeois parliamentary in-
stitutions, however worthless they may be, forging them into
a weapon, into a tribune, into a gathering center for Commu-
nism. At its Second Congress, the Communist International
publicly repudiated sectarian tendencies, by the resolutions it
adopted on the questions of trade unionism and the utiliza-
tion of parliamenarism. The experience gained in the two
years' struggle of the Communist Parties has completely
corroborated the correctness of this standpoint of the Com-
munist International. By its tactics, the Communist Inter-
national has succeeded in separating the revolutionary work-
ers in a number of countries, not only from the reformists,
but also from the centrists. The formation by the centrist
elements of a two and a half International, which united
itself with the Scheidemanns, Jouhaux and Hendersons on
the basis of the Amsterdam Trade Union International,
clarified the issues of the struggle for the proletarian masses
and lightened its task. Thanks to the policy of the Com-
munist International revolutionary work in the trade unions,
open declarations to the masses, etc., German Communism
has been transformed f rcnn a mere political group, such as
it was when it entered the struggles of January and March,
1919, into a great revolutionary mass-party. The influence
its has gained in the trade unions has provoked the trade
union bureaucracy into expelling numerous Communists
from the trade unions because of their fear of the revdu-
tionary effect of Conununist activity in the unions and has
compelled them to assume the odiimi and responsibility of
flplittiag the organizations. In Czecho-Slovakia^ the Com-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
— 40 —
munists have succeeded in rallying to their colors the ma-
jority of the politically-organized workers. As a result of
its undermining activities in the trade unions, the Polish
Communist Party, in spite of the untold persecutions which
have driven it to work exclusively "underground," has not
lost its contact with the masses for a moment, but has, on the
contrary, exceedingly augmented its influence. In France^
the Communists have secured the majority in the Socialist
Party. In England, the process of consolidation of the Com-
munist groups on the basis of the Communist International is
proceeding rapidly. The growing influence of the Commu-
nists has forced the social-traitors to dose the doors of the
Labor Party to them. The sectarian groups, such as the
C- L. P. of Germany,- on the contrary, were unable to win
even the slightest success with their methods. The theory of
the strengthening of Communism solely by propaganda and
agitation and by the organisation of separate Communist
trade unions, has met with complete failure. Nowhere has a
Communist Party of any influence arisen in this way.
The U. S.
In the United States of North America, where on ac'
count of historical circumstances, there was a total lack of
broad revolutionary movement even before the war, the com-
munists are confronted with the first and simplest task of
creating a communist nucleus and connecting it with the
working masses. The present economic crisis, which has
thrown five million people out of work, affords very favorable
soil for this kind of work. Conscious of the imminent dan-
ger of a radicalized labor movement becoming subject to
communist influence, American capital tries to crush and de-
stroy the young communist movement by means of barba-
rous persecution. The Communist Party w2ls forced into
an ill^;alized existence under which it would, according to
capitalist expectations, in the absence of any contact with
the masses, dwindle into a propagandist sect and lose its vi-
tality. The Communist International draws the aitenHan of
Digitized by VjOOQIC
L
— 41 —
the united Communist Party of America to the fact that ike
illegalized organization must not only serve as the ground
for collecting and crystallizing the active communist forces,
but that it is the party's duty to try all ways and means to
get out of the illegalized condition into the open, among the
wide masses. It is the duty of the Communist Party to find
the means and forms to unite these masses politically,
through public activity, for the struggle against American
capitalism.
England
The English Communist movement has also fallen short
of becoming the Party of the masses, despite the concentra-
tion of their forces.
The continued disorganization of English industry, the un-
precedented acuteness of the strike movement, the growing
discontent among the widest masses of the people with
the regime of Lloyd George, the possibility of a Labor and
Liberal victory at the next General Election — ^all these cir-
cumstances i)pen new revolutionary perspectives in England's
.development, confronting the English communists with ques-
tions of the greatest importance.
The first and foremost task of the English Communist
Party is, to become the Party of the masses. The Eng-
lish communists must take the firmest stand upon the ac-
tually existing and ever developing mass-movement. They
must permeate all its concrete manifestations and convert
desultory and partial demands of the workers into issues for
their own untiring agitation and propaganda.
The mighty strike movement puts to the test the abiliy, re-
liability, steadfastness and conscientiousness of the trade-
union machinery and leaders in the eyes of hundreds of thou-
sands and millions of workers. Under these circumstances the
work of the Communists within the trade-unions becomes of
decisive importance. No, party influence from the outside
can exercise even the smallest part of that influence which
the constant daily work of communist nuclei in the work-
shops can exercise by persistently unmasking and discredit-
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i
— 4€ —
ing the traitors and betrayers of trade-tmionism. In Eng-
land, more than in any other country, have the latter becotne
the political tool of capitalism.
While in other countries the task of the communist parties
which have become mass-parties consists in seizing to a
great extent the initiative in mass action, the task of the
Communist Party in England consists first of all in prov-
ing and demonstrating to the masses on the basis of their
actual experience of present-day mass-actions, that the com-
munists can correctly and courageously express the interests,
needs and sentiments of these masses.
Central Western Europe
The Communist mass-parties of Middle and Western
Europe are in the process of evolving the necessary methods
of revolutionary propaganda and agitation, and of working
out methods of organization which would correspond to the
nature of their struggle, and are in the process of transition
from communist propaganda and agitation to action. This
process is hindered by th^ fact that in a niunber of coun-
tries the revolutionizing of the workers going over to the
communist camp took place under the guidance of leaders
who either have failed to overcome their centrist tndencies
and are incapable of conducting a real popular communist
agitation and propaganda, or are simply afraid because
they know that this agitation and propaganda will lead the
workers to revolutionary struggles.
Italy
These centrist tendencies have caused a split in the party
in Italy. The party and trade-union leaders of the Serrati
group, instead of transforming the spontaneous action of the
working classes and their growing activity, into the conscious
struggle for power for which the situation was ripe in Italy,
have allowed these movements to become stranded. They
turned their backs on Communism which would have shaken
^ Digitized by VjOOQIC
-- 43 ~
the working masses out of their lethargy and united them
for the struggle. And because they were afraid of the
struggle, they diluted the communist propaganda and agi-
tation and led it into centrist channels. In this manner they
strengthened the influence of the Centrists, like Turati and
Treves in the party, and like D'aragona in the trade unions.
Because they did not differ irom the centrists either in word
or in deed, they would not part company with them. They
preferred to part company with the Communists. The Ser-
rati policy, while on the one hand increasing the influence of
the reformists, on the other hand increased the danger of
the influence of the Anarchists and Syndicalists, and of the
danger of the creation of tendencies toward anti-parliamen-
tary and mere revolutionary phrase-mongering within the
pary. The split at Livomo, the forming of the Italian
Communist Party, the rallying of all the really communist
elements on the basis of the decisions of the Second Con-
gress of the Communist International into a united Com-
munist Party will make Communism a live force among
the masses in Italy, if the Italian Communist Party will only
maintain an unbending front against the opportunistic policy
of the Serrati school and will succeed in identifying itself
with the masses of the proletariat in the unions, in strikes, in
fights against the counter-revolutionary Fascisti, in consoli-
dating their movements, in converting their spontaneous ac-
'tions into carefully planned struggle.
France
In France, where first the chauvinist poison of ''national
'defense" and then the shouts of Victory were stronger than
in any other country, the reaction against war developed
inuch slower than in the other countries. The majority of
^the French Socialist Party developed in the direction of Com-
munism even before being confronted with decisive ques-
tions of revdutionary action through the development of
events. This new orientation ¥^ due to the moral in- , ,
fluence of the Russian Revolution, to the revolutionary strug- i005lC
— 44 —
gles in the capitalist countries and to the first experience of
the French proletariat in its own struggles with the treason
of its leaders. The French Communist Party will be able
to make the best and fullest use of this advantageous posi-
tion, insofar as it will be able to liquidate in its own ranks
— ^particularly among the leading circles — ^the remnants of
national pacifist and parliamentary-reformist ideology. The
party must reach the masses and their most oppressed strata
in a far larger degree than it has done in the past or is being
done at present; it must give dear, complete and uncompro-
mising expression to the sufferings and needs of these
masses. In its parliamentary activity the par^ must de-
cisively break with all the ugly, hypocritical formalities of
French parliamentarism which have been deliberately nur-
tured and supported by the bourgeoisie in order to muzzle
and intimidate and hypnotize the representatives of the
working class. The representatives of the Communist Party
in Parliament must tear the veil from the bourgeois tradi-
tion of national democracy and revolution, presenting it
point-Uank as a question of class-interest and irreconcilable
class-struggle.
The agitation of the party must assume a more concen-
trated, strenuous and energetic form. It must not dis-
solve itself in die changeable and variable political situa-
tions and combinations of die day. It most draw die same
fundamental revolutionary conclusions from all events, Ug
and small, bringing them home to die most badcward work-
ing masses. Only dirough such a truly revdutionaiy atti-
tude will the Communist P^uty avcnd die appearance— as
well as the reality— of being a mere left-wing of that ladi-
cal Longuet bloc which with ever increasing energy and
success places itself at die service of bourgeois sod^, to
protect the latter against diose upheavals which are made
inevitable in Fiance by the sheer logic of events. These
decisive revdutionary events may come sooner or ibey may
come later, but a determined revdutionary Communist Party,
in^Mied by a revdhxtionary will, can evenr^now, during tbe
- ,45 -
preparatory stage, m6bilize the working masses on economic
and political grounds, and broaden and clarify all their pres-
ent struggles.
The attempts of the impatient and the politically
inexperienced to apply extreme methods, which by
their very nature. are methods of decisive proletarian revo-
lution, to simple questions (e. g., the calling upon the re-
cruits of the year 1919 to resist mobilization, the proposal
for the forcible prevention of the occupation of Luxem-
berg, etc.) contain elements of most dangerous adventurism.
If applied such tactics would put off for a long time the
real revolutionary preparation of the proletariat for the
conquest of power. That adventurism, which by its very
nature forms no clear conception of the purposes of mass-
action and the difficulties in the way, merely brings sickly
and ofttimes deadly premature travail instead of the revo-
lution. It is the duty of the French Communist Party, and
indeed of all other Communist parties, to reject such highly
dangerous methods.
To increase the union of the Party with the masses means
above all a closer alliance with the workers' organisations.
The task does not at all consist in mechanically and outward-
ly subjecting the unions to the Party and thereby denying
them the autonomy required by the very nature of their
work, but in the truly revolutionary, communist elements
zvithin the unions giving them that direction which answers
the general interests of the proletariat in its struggle for the
conquest of power. In view of these considerations, it is the
duty of the French Communist Party to criticize in friendly
but firm and unmistakeable manner those anarcho-syndicalist
tendencies which reject the Proletarian dictatorship and
which do not admit the necessity of uniting its vanguard in
a centralized leading organization — the Communist Party.
The Party should also pursue such a policy towards those
syndicalist tendencies which under the cloak of the Charter
of Amiens, drawn up eight years previous tQ the war, uow^ ^
Digitized by VjOOQIC
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.mi
i
— 46 —
refuse to give a clear and outspoken answer to the funda-
mental questions of the new, post-bellum epoch.
The amalgamation of the revolutionary-syndicalist groups
within the unions with the Communist organization as a
whole is an indispensable preliminary condition for every
earnest struggle of the French proletariat.
To render harmless and remove those adventurous ten-
dencies, and to overcome the nebulous principles and orgam-
zational separatism of the revolutionary syndicalists, it is im-
peratively necessary that the Party itself— as already said
— should by real revolutionary handling of every question of
daily life and struggle make itself the irresistible centre
of gravitation for the working masses of France.
[ In Czechoslovakia, the workers in the course of two and a
half years have freed themselves from a great deal of re-
formist and nationalistic illusions. In September of last
year the majority of the social-democratic workers broke
away from their reformist leaders. In December already a
million workers out of Czechoslovakia's three and a half
million industrial workers were in the midst of revolutionary
mass-action against the Czechoslovak capitalist government
In May of this year the Czechoslovak Communist Party of
350,000 members was formed. In addition there is the Ger-
man-Bohemian Communist Party which numbers 60,000
members. The communists thus not only represent a great
portion of the Czechoslovak proletariat, but also of the en-
tire population of the country. The Czechoslovak Party now
stands before the task of gaining the adherence of even
wider working masses through real communist agitation, in
order to train the masses by clear and uncompromising com-
munist propaganda, to form a solid front by a union of the
workers of all the peoples of Czechoslovakia, against theJOi^
jtionalists who are the main instrument of the bourgeoisie in
Czechoslovakia. It is the task of the Party to make the pro-
letarian force thus created strong and invincible in all its
future struggles against the oppressive tendencies of capital-
ism and the government. The quickness with which the
Digitized by LjOOQiC
— 47 —
Czechoslovak Communist Party will master these tasks de^
pends upon the clearness and determination with which it
will do away with all centrist traditions and moods which
found their expression in the Smeral policy. They should
follow the advice given by their best imprisoned comrades,
Muna, Kuls, Sabototsky and by the Communist Interna-
tional and conduct such a policy as will educate and revolu-
tionize the masses, organize and equip them for action and
victorious consummation. V' ' -^ , ' ^ ^
The United Communist Party of Germany
The United Communist Party of Germany, formed by a
union of the Spartakusbund with the left Independent work-
ing masses, although already a mass-party, stands before the
task of raising and strengthening its influence among the
wide masses, winning the proletarian mass-organizations —
the trade-unions — ^and dispelling the influence of the social-
democratic party and the trade-unionist bureaucracy. This
main task demands that the Party base its whole agitation —
propaganda and organization work — ^upon acquiring the s)rm-
m'^hies of the majority of the workers. Without this, in the
presence of strongly organized capital, no communist vic-
tory in Germany is possible. For this task the Party
was not quite ripe as yet, both regarding the scope of its agi-
tation and its content. Nor did it understand how to con-
sistently continue the road it had started upon when it pub-
lished the "Open Letter,'' the road of opposing the practical
interests of the Proletariat to the treacherous policy of the
social-democratic parties and the trade-union bureaucracy.
Its press and its organization are still rather too strongly
marked by the stamp of decentralized associations, not of
militant organs and solid organization. Those centrist ten-
dencies which found their expression therein, unsubdued as
yet, have driven the Party to the necessity of throwing down
the gauntlet without due preparation for the battle, and on the
other hand rather obscured the necessity of close spiritual as-
sociation with the non-communist masses. The problems ^^qqIc
— 48 —
actioo which are soon to confront the United German Com-
munist Party, through the process of disintegration of Ger-
man economy, and through the offensive started by capital
against the very existence of the working masses, can be
solved only if the Party will not consider the problems of
agitation and organization as opposed to those of action and
deeds, but will rather make its agitation a real popular
force, building its organization in such a manner that the
Party by its close association with the masses shall develop
rhe ability to constantly and carefully weigh the military sit-
uation and carefully prepare for the struggles.
llie parties of the Communist International become revo-
lutionary mass-parties if they overcome the remnants and
traditions of opportunism in their ranks by seeking close
association with the struggling working masses and by draw-
ing their problems from the practical struggles of the Pro-
letariat. Th^se struggles act as an antidote to opportimistic
clouding of iri'econcilable social contrasts, and reject all revo-
lutionary .*atch-phrases which obstruct the view into the
real relation of the contending forces and which permit the
difficulties of the struggle to be overlooked. The communist
parties have arisen from the breaking up of the old social-
democratic parties. This break-up resulted from the fact
that these parties have betrayed the intersts of the prole-
tariat in the war and have continued the betrayal after the
war, by alliances with the bourgeoisie or by conducting a
lame policy and shirking the fight. The fundamentals of the
Comnmnist Party form the only basis upon which the work-
ing masses can reunite, because they express the necessities
of the pn.iletarian snaggle. It is because of this fact, that the
social-democratic parties and tendencies seek the splitting' up
and division of the proletariat — while the communist parties
arc a uniting force. In Germany it was the centrists who
broke away from the majority of their Party, after the lat-
ter had rallied to the banner of Comnuinism. Fearing the
nnitin^ influence of Communism, the German social-demo-
crats in league with the social-democratic trade-unions re-^
Digitized by LjOOQiC
— 49 —
fused to go with the communists in joint actions for the de-
fence of even the elementary interests of the proletariat. In
Czechoslovakia, again, it was the social-democrats who fled
the old party on perceiving the triumph of Communism.
In France the Longuet group seceded from the majority of
the French socialist workers, while the Communist party acts
as a rallying ground for socialist and syndicalist workers.
In England it was the reformists and the centrists that drove
the communists out of the Labor Party, for fear of their in-
fluence. Even now they continue sabotaging the unification
of the workers in their struggle against the capitalists. The
Communist Parties thus become the standard-bearers of the
unifying process of the proletariat, on the basis of, the
struggle for its interests. From this consciousness of their
role they will draw and gather new forces.
5. Partial Struggles and Partial Demands.
The development of the communist parties can only be
achieved through a fighting policy. Even the smallest com-^
munist units must not rest content with mere propaganda:
In all proletarian mass organizations they must constitute
the vanguard, which must teach the backward, vacillating
masses how to fight, by formulating practical plans for direct
action, and by urging the workers to make a stand for the\
necessaries of life. Only in this manner will Communists j
be able to reveal to the masses the treacherous character of
all non-communist parties. Only in case they prove able
to lead the practical struggle for the proletariat, only in case
they can promote these conflicts, will the Communists suc-
ceed in winning over great masses of the proletariat to the
struggle for the dictatorship.
TJie entire propaganda and agitation as well as the other
work of the Communist parties, must be based on the con-
ception that no lasting betterment of the position of the pro-
letariat is possible under capitalism, and that the overthrow
of the bourgeoisie is a prerequisite for the achievement of
such betterment and the rebuilding of the social structure
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urn
.mi
— so-
destroyed by capitalism. This conception, however, must not
find expression in the abandonment of all participation in
th^ proletarian struggle for actual and immediate necessaries
of life, until such a time as the proletariat will be able to
attain them through its own dictatorship. Social-democracy
is consciously deceiving the masses, when, in the period of
capitalist disintegration, when capitalism is unable to assure
to the workers even the subsistence of well fed slaves, it has
nothing better to offer than the old social-democratic pro-
gram of peaceful reforms to be achieved by peaceful means
within the bankrupt capitalist system. Not only is capital-
ism, in the period of its disintegration, unable to assure to
tiie workers decent conditions of life, but the social-demo-
crats and reformists of all lands are also continually dem-
onstrating that they are unwilling to put up any fight, even
for the most modest demands contained in their own pro-
grams. The demand for socialization or nationalization of
the most important industries is nothing but another such
deception of the working masses. Not only did the centrists
mislead the masses by trying to persuade them that nationali-
sation alone, without the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, would
deprive capitalism of the chief industries, but they also en-
deavored to divert the workers from the real and live strug-
gle for their immediate needs, by raising their hopes of a
gradual seizure of industry, to be followed by "systematic"
economic reconstruction. Thus they have reverted to the
minimum social-democratic program of the reform of capi-
talism, which once an illusion, has now become an open coun-
ter-revolutionary deception. The theory prevailing among a
portion of the centrists, that the program of the nationaliza-
tion of the coal or any other industry is based on the Las-
salian theory of the concentration of all the energies of the
proletariat on a single demand, in order to use it as a lever
i: revolutionary action, which in its development would lead
to a struggle for power, is nothing but empty words. The
suffering of the working class in every country is so in-
tense, that it is impossible to direct the struggle against tbest
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I
— 51 —
blows, which are coming thick and fast, into narrow doctrin-
arian channels. On the contrary, it is essential to make use
of aU the economic needs of the masses, as issues in the revo-
lutionary struggles, which, when united, form the flood of
the social revolution. For this struggle, the Communist
Parties have no minimum program for the strengthening of
this reeling world structure within the system of capitalism.
The destruction of this system is the chief aim and imme-
diate task of the parties. But in order to achieve this task,
the Communist Parties must put forward demands, and they
must fight with the masses for their fulfilment, regardless of
whether they are in keeping with the profit system of the
capitalist class or not.
What the Communist Parties have to consider is not
whether capitalist industry is able to continue to exist and
compete, but rather whether the proletariat has reached the
limit of its endurance. If these communist demands are in
accord with the immediate needs of the wide proletarian
masses, if these masses are convinced that they cannot exist
without the realization of these demands, the struggle for
these demands will become an issue in the struggle for^
power. The alternative offered by the Communist Interna-
tional in place of the minimum program of the reformists
and centrists is: the struggle for the concrete need of the
\. proletariat and demands, which, in their application, under-
Q ^mine the power of the bourgeoisie, yor^anize the proletariatX
^ form the transition to proletarian dictatorship, even if the\
^latter have not yet grasped the meaning of such proletarian \
Jiciatorship.
Broadening the Fight
As the struggle for these demands embraces ever-grow-
ing masses, as the needs of the masses clash with the needs
of capitalist society, the workers will realize that capitalism
mut die if they are to live. The realization of this fad-
is the basis of the will to fight for the dictatorship. It is
the task of the Communist Parties to widen, to deepen and
to co-ordinate these struggles which have been brought into
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UTO
— 52 —
being by the formulation of concrete demands. As the par-
tial struggles of isolated groups of workers gradually merge
into a general struggle of labor versus capital, so the Com-
munist Party must also alter its watchword, which would be
— "uncompromising overthrow of the enemy." In formulat-
ing their partial demands the Communist Parties must take
heed that these demands, based on the deeply rooted needs
of the masses, are such as will organize the masses and not
merely lead them into the struggle. All concrete watch-
words, originating in the economic needs of the workers,
must be assimilated to the struggle for the control of produc-
tion, which must not assume the form of a bureaucratic or-
ganization of social economy under capitalism, but of an or-
ganization fighting against capitalism through workers' com-
mittees as well as through the revolutionary trade-unions-
It is only through the establishment of such workers' com-
mittees and their co-ordination according to branches and
centres of industry, that Communists can prevent the split-
jting up of the masses by the social-democrats and the trade-
I union leader^. The workers' committees will be able to ful-
fil this role only if they are born in an economic struggle in
the interests of wide masses of workers, and provided they
succeed in uniting all the revolutionary sections of the pro-
letariat — the communist party, the revolutionary workers
and those trade-unions which are going through a process
g of revolutionary development.
Every objection to the establishment of such partial
demands, every accusation of reformism in connection %<;ith
these partial struggles, is an outcome of the same incapacity
to grasp the live issues of revolutionary action which mani-
fested itself in the opposition of some communist groups to
participation in trade union activities and parliamentary ac^
tion. Communists should not rest content with teaching the
proletariat its ultimate aims, but should lend impetus to
every practiced move leading the proletariat into the struggle
for these ultimate aims. How inadequate the objections to
partial demands are and how divorced they are from tho
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— 53 —
needs of revolutionary life, is best exemplified by the fact
that even the small organizations formed by the so-called
"left" communists for the propagation of pure doctrines
have seen the necessity of formulating partial demands, in
order to attract larger sections of workers than they have
hitherto been able to. They have also been obliged to take
part in the struggle of wider masses of workers in order to
influence them. The chief revolutionary characteristic of
the present period lies in the fact that the most modest de-
mands of the working masses are incompatible with the ex-
istence of capitalist society. Therefore the struggle, even
for these very modest demands, is bound to develop into a
struf^gle for Communism. . . .
While the capitalists make use of the ever increasing army
of the unemployed as a lever against the organized workers
for the forcing down of wages, the Social-Democrats, die
Independents and oflkial trade-union leaders maintain a
cowardly aloofness from the unemfdoyed. Th^ consider
them mere objects of state and trade-union charity and de-
spise diem pcditically as Lumpen-Proletariat . The Gmmiu-l
nists must clearly understand that under the present drcum-j
stances the unemfdoyed represent a revolutionary factor off
gigantic significance. The communists must take upon]
themselves die leadership of this army. By bringing thel
pressure of the unenq)loyed to bear upon the trade-unions,!
the communists must sedc to effect the rejuvenation of thel
latter, and above all their liberation from die treacherous)
leaders. By uniting the unemployed with the proletarian'
vanguards in the struggle for the social-revdution, the Com-
munist Party will restrain the most rebellious and impatient
elements among the unemployed from individual desperate
acts and enable the entire mass to actively support, under
f avoraUe circumstances, die struggle of die proletariat, thus '
developing beyond die limits of present conflict and making
this conflict the starting point of the decisive offensive— in a
word, this entire mass will be transformed from a mere re-
serve army of industry into an active army of the Revolu-
tion. _ Digitized by CiOOQlC
— 54 —
The Communist Parties, in energetically supporting thii
section of the workers (now low down in the scale of labor)
stand lip, not for the interests of one section of workers, as
opposed to those of other sections, but for the common good
of the entire working class betrayed by the counter-revolu-
tionary leaders in the interests of the labor aristocracy. The
more workers in the ranks of the unemployed and part time
employed, the quicker their interests become transformed
into the common interests of the entire working class. The
momentary' interests of the labor aristocracy must be subor-
dinated to those common interests. Those who plead the
interests of the labor aristocracy, in order to arouse their hoa-
tilit}' to the unemployed, or in order to leave the latter to
their own devices, are splitting the working class aiid are
acting in a counter-revolutionary manner. The Communist
Party, as the representative of the common interests of the
working class, cannot rest content with merely recognizing
those common interests and using them for propaganda pur-
poses. To effectively represent the workers, the party must,
under certain conditions, undertake to lead the bulk of the
most oppressed and downtrodden workers into action, in
order to break down the resistance of the labor aristocracy.
The character of the transition period makes it impera-
tive for all Communist Parties to be thoroughly prepared
for the struggle. Each separate struggle may lead to the
struggle for power. Preparedness can only be achieved by
giving to the entire Party agitation the character of a vehem-
ent attack against capitalist society. The Party must also
come into contact with the widest masses of workers, and
must make it plain to them that they are being led by a van-
guard, whose real aim is — the conquest of power. The Com-
munist press and proclamations must not merely consist of
theoretical proofs that Communism is right. They must be
clarion calls of the proletarian revolution. The parliamen-
tary activity of the Communists must not consist in debates
with the enemy, or in attempts to convert him, but in the
ruthless unmasking of the agents of the bourgeoisie and the
Digitizea
— u —
sdrrmg up of the fighting spirit of the working masses and
in attracting the semi-proletarian and the petty bourgeois
strata of society to the proletariat. Our organizing work in
the trade-unions, as well as in the party organizations, must
not consist in mechanically increasing the number of our
membership. It must be imbued with the consciousness of
the coming struggle. It is only in becoming, in all its forms
and manifestations, the embodiment of the will to fight, that
the Party will be able to fulfil its task, when the time for
drastic action will have arrived.
Wherever the Communist Party represents a mass power,
wherever its influence is felt among large sections of the
workers, it becomes its duty to rouse the masses to action*
Mass parties can not rest content with criticizing the short-
comings of other parties and opposing their demands by
communist demands. They, as a mass party, are responsible
for the devdoimient of the revolution. Wherever the posi-
tion of the workers becomes increasingly unbearable, the
Communist Parties must do their utmost to make the work-
ing masses join in the struggle for their own interests. In
view of the fact that in Western Europe and in America the
workers are organised in trade unions and political parties,
and hence spontaneous movements are for the time being
out of the question, it is the duty of the Communist parties to
endeavor, by means of their influence in the trade unions,
by increased pressure on other parties connected with the
working nuisses, to bring about the struggle for the achieve-
ment of the immediate needs of the proletariat. Should non-f
communist parties be pressed into this struggle, it will be-
come the duty of communists to warn the masses in good
time against the possibility of betrayal by the ijon-commu-'
nistic elements in later stages of the struggle, and to make
the conflict as acute and far-reaching as possible, in order to
eventually be able to carry on the fight independently. We
can refer to the open letter of the V. K. P. D. which may
provTde an example of the prerequisite of direct action.
Should the pressure of the Communist Party in the Trade
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!73
[^9
^m
m
— 56 —
Unions and the press not be strong enough to rouse the pro-
letariat to ^ united front, it will become the duty of the Com-
munist Party to endeavor to lead the masses into the strug-
gle. The latter policy will be successful, and will lead to the
awakening of the backward masses, when it will become clear
to them that our aims are their aims, although they are not
yet able to put up a fight for them.
However, the Communist Party must not rest content
with merely warding off the dangers threatening the prole-
tariat and meeting the blows directed against it. In the pe-
riod of world Revolution, its role consists in attacking and
storming the strongholds of capitalist society. Its duty con-
sists in transforming every defensive into an offensive
against capitalist society. Wherever circumstances permit,
the Communist Party should also do its utmost to assume
the leadership of the working masses in such attacks.
Such circumstances are, first and foremost, the growing
strife and dissensions in the ranks of the national and in-
ternational bourgeoisie. Should these dissensions bring dis-
integration into the enemy's ranks, then it would become the
duty of the Communist Party to take the initiative and lead
the masses to attack, after careful political and, if possible,
organizational preparation. Strong ferment in the ranks of
the more responsible and important workers, would also
justify the Party to assume the leadership of the offensive
against a capitalist government on a wide front. Whilst it
is the duty of the Communist Party to inspire and lead the
masses to attack, it should also bear in mind that, in the
event of retreat, it becomes imperative for the Party to pre-
vent panic and to lead the workers out of the fray in per-
fect order.
The attitude of the Communist Party to the question of
offence and defence depends entirely on concrete circum-
stances. What really matters is that it should be animated
by the fighting spirit which will overcome the centrist spirit
of "wait and see" in the foremost ranks of workers, by
means of agitation, organization and readiness to fight. This
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-^ 57 — ^
fighting spirit and will to attack must be a feature of the
communist mass parties, not only because, as such it is their
duty to lead in the fight, but also because of the present
decay of capitalism and the ever-growing misery of the
masses. It is essential to shorten the period of decay, in
order to prevent the destruction of the material basis of
Communism, and in order to preserve the energy of the
working masses.
7. The Lesson of Actions of March.
The action of last March was forced upon the V. K. P,
D. (United German Communist Party) by the Government's
attack upon the proletariat of Middle-Germany.
In stoutly defending the workers of Middle Germany, the
V. K. P. D. has shown itself to be the Party of the revo-
lutionary, proletariat of Germany. In this first great strug-
gle, which it had to sustain immediately after its forma-
tion, the V. K. P. D. committed a number of mistakes, of
which the chief one was that it did not clearly imderstand
the defensive nature of the struggle, but by the call for the
attack gave the opportunity to the unscrupulous enemies ot
the proletariat— the S. P. D. and the U. S. P. D.— to. de-
nounce the V. K. P. D. in the eyes of the proletariat as the
aggressor. This mistake was further amplified by a number
of Party theorists who represented the oflEensive as the prin-
cipal means of the campaign of the V. K. P. D. in the pres-
ent situation. This mistake has already been repudiated by
official party organs, notably by its chairman, Com. Brand-
ler. The Congress of the Communist International consid-
ers the March action of the V. K. P. D. as a step forward.
The March action was a heroic battle of hundreds of thou-
sands of workers against the bourgeoisie. It is of the opinion,
that in order to ensure greater success for its mass-actions
the V. K. P. D. nrnst in the future better adapt its slogans
to the actual situation, giving the most careful study to
the situation and conducting their actions in the most uni-
form manner.
For the purpose of carefully weighing the possibilities of
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- 58 -
the struggle, the V. K. P. D. must attentively listen to the
voices which point out the difficulties of the actions and
carefully examine their reasons for urging caution. But as
soon as an action is decided upon by the Party authorities, aU
comrades must submit to the decisions of the Party and
carry out the action. Criticism of the action must com-
mence only after its completion and be practiced only within
the party organizations, giving due consideration to the sit-
uation wherein the Party had found itself in the face of
the enemy. Since Levi did disr^ard these obvious
demands of Party discipline and the conditioiis of Party
criticism, the Congress approves his expulsion from the
Party and declares it inadmissible for any members of the
Communist International to co-operate politically with him.
8. The Ponnt and MeaM of Direct Action
The forms and means of action, its extent and the ques-
tion of offensive or defensive, are botmd up with certain
conditions which cannot be created at will. The experience
of the revolution has shown us various forms of partial
actions.
1. The partial actions on the part of sections of the pro-
letariat (the action of miners, railway men, etc, in Ger-
many, and of land workers in England, etc.).
2. The partial actions of the whole proletariat for limited
objects, (the action of the diays of the Kapp-Putsch, the
action of the English miners against the military interven-
tion of the British government in the Russo-Polish war).
These partial actions may extend over separate districts,
over whole countries and over a series of countries simulta-
neously. All these forms of action will in all countries be
intermingled in the course of the revolution. The Com-
mtmist Party cannot discard actions which are limited to a
certain area, but it must strive to turn every important local
proletarian action into a universal struggle. Just as we are.
bound to raise the whole working dass in defence of the
struggling workers of a single branch of industry wherever
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posttUe^ we are alao bound to rouse the workers of all the
industrial centres to lend their help to the struggling work-
era of a whole district or area. The experience of revolu-
tion teaches us that the greater the area of the struggle, the
greater^he prospect of victory. The bourgeoisie relies, in its
struggle against the rising world revolution, partly on the
White Guard organizations, and partly on the fact that the
working class is scattered, and that its front is built up very
slowly. The greater the number of workers who join in the
battle, the greater the fighting area, the more must the entmy
divide and scatter his forces. Even when the other sections
of workers, who are anxious to help the oppressed part of the
proletariat, are temporarily not in a position to support it
with all their might, their very movement forces the capitalist
to divide his forces, for the latter are unable to fathom to
what extent the other part of the proletariat will be able to
take part in the struggle and render it more acute.
In the course of the past year, during which we saw the
ever increasing arrogance of the capitalist offensive against
the workers, we observed that the bourgeoisie in all coun-
tries, not satisfied with the normal activity of its state or-
gans, created legal and semi-l^;al though state-protected
White-Guard organizations, which played a decisive part in
every big economic or industrial conflict.
In Germany it is the Orgesch, backed by the govern-
ment, which includes ajl Party colorings from Stinnes to
Scheidemann.
In Italy it is the Fasdsti, whose depredations effected a
change in the mood of the bourgeoisie, giving the appear-
ance of a complete change in the respective strength of the
contending political forces.
In England — ^to combat the strikers — ^the Lloyd George
government appealed for volunteers, whose task it was to
defend property and so-called "free-labor" by means of
blacklegging and wanton destruction of workers* centres.
In France the leading semi-official newspaper, "Temps,**
inspired by the Millerand clique, conducts a vigorous cam? .
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— 60 —
paign for the reinforcement of the already existing "Civic
Leagues" and for th^ introduction of Fascisti methods to
French soil.
The organizations of strike-breakers and cut-throats,
which are an old-time embellishment of American democ-
racy, have now acquired a leading organ in the so-called
"American Legion," made up of the flotsam and jetsam of
the war.
The bourgeoisie, though apparently conscious of its power
and actually bragging about its stability, knows through its
leading governments quite well, that it has merely obtained
a breathing spell and that under the present circumstances
every big strike has the tendency to develop into civil war
and the immedite struggle for the possession of power.
In the struggle of the proletariat against the capitalist of-
fensive it is the duty of the communists not only to take
the advanced posts and lead those engaged in the struggle to
a. complete understanding of the fundamental revolutionary
tasks, but it is also their duty, relying upon the best and most
active elements among the workers, to create their own work-
ers legions and militant organizations which would resist the
pacifists and teach the "golden youth" of the bour-
geoisie a wholesome lesson that will break them of the
strike-breaking habit.
In view of the extraordinary importance of the counter-
revolutionary shock-troops, the Communist Party must,
through its nuclei in the unions, devote special attention to
this question, organizing a thorough-going educational and
communicati(5n service which shall keep under constant ob-
servation the military organs and forces of the enemy, his
headquarters, his arsenals, the connection between these head-
quarters and the police, the press and the political parties,
and work out all the necessary details of defence and coun-
ter-attack.
The Communist Party must in this manner convince the
the widest circles of the proletariat by word and deed, that
every economic or political conflict, given the necessary ^^qqJp
— 61 —
bination of circumstances, may develop into civil war, in the
course of which it will become the task of the Proletariat
to conquer the power of the state.
With regard to acts of White Terror and the fury of
bourgeois justice, the Communist Party must warn the
workers not to be deceived, during crises, by an enemy ap-
peal to their leniency, but to demonstrate proletarian moral-
ity by acts of proletarian justice, in settling with the oppres-
sors of the workers. But in times when the workers arei
only preparing themselves, when they have to be mobilized by \
agitation, political campaigns and strikes, armed force may \
be used solel^^ to defend the masses from bourgeois out-i
rages. Individual acts of terrorism, however they may dem-
onstrate the revolutionary rancor of the masses, however
justified they may be as acts of retribution against the lynch
law of the bourgeoisie and its social-democratic flunkeys,
are in no way apt to raise the workers to a higher level of
organization, or make them better prepared to face the
struggle. Acts of sabotage are only justified when they can
only serve the purpose of hindering the despatch of enemy
troops against the workers, and of conquering important
strategic points from the enemy in direct combat.
9. Relation to the Semi-Proletarian Elements.
In Western Europe there is no other important class be-
sides the proletariat, which might become a determining fac-
tor in the world revolution. But it is different in Russia,
where the peasantry, owing to the war and lack of land were
predestined to become a determining revolutionary fighting
element next to the working class. But even in Western
Europe a part of the peasantry, a considerable section of the
petty-bourgeoisie in the towns, the numerous so-called "new
middle-class," the office workers, etc., are sinking into ever
worse conditions of life. Under the pressure of the high
cost of living, housing difficulties, and the insecurity of their
positions, these masses are beginning to pass through a
process of fermentation, which draws them out of their po-
litical inactivity, and drags them into the revolutionary and
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— 62 —
counter-revolutionary struggle. The bankruptcy of imperial-
ism in the defeated countries, the bankruptcy of pacifism and
social reform in the victorious countries, drives some of
these middle-class elements into the camp of open counter-
revolution, and others into the revolutionary camp. The
Communist Party is bound to bestow increasing attention to
these elements. The winning over of the small farmers to
the ideas of Communism, and the orgaliization of the agri-
cultural workers, are prerequisite conditions for the victory
of the proletarian dictatorship. Then we shall be able to
bring the revolution from industrial centres down to the
country districts. And this will enable us to capture the
most important strongholds, and thus solve the food ques-
tion, that vital question for the revolution. The acquisition
of large groups of technical and commercial employees and
intellectuals would make it easier for the proletarian dictator-
ship to master the problems of technique and organization in
the transition period from capitalism to communism. It will
cause disintegration in the enemy ranks and will do away with
the traditional notion that the workers are isolated. The Com-
mumst Fariies have to keep alive the fermenlation among tlu
peHy-bQurgcomCf in order to uiilice it in the most appro-
priate imy, even though it docs not lose its petty-bourgeois
illusions. Those of the intellectuals and employees who free
themselves from these illusions must be taken up in the pro-
letarian ranks, and made use of for the purpose of or^niz*
ing such petty -bourgeois masses.
The economic ruin and consequent disorganization of na-
tional finance, force the bourgeoisie to doom even the basic
support of its governmental apparatus, the midc^Je and lower
officials, to gradual impoverishment. The economic move-
ment on the part of these elements affects the very root of
bourgeois society. Though this movement may temporarily
abate, it will be as impossible for the bourgeois state to pre-
serve this administrational foundation (the officials), as it is
impossible for capital to grant fair conditions to its w^e
slaves while insisting on the preservation of its system of ^c-
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— d3 —
ploitation. The Communist Parties, by espousing the cause
of the lower and middle, officialdom, and by helping it econ-
omically, irrespective of the state of public finance, will do
most eflfective preliminary work for the destruction of bour-
geois institutions and the preparation of the elements requi-
site for the superstructure of the proletarian state.
10. International Coordination oi Action
In order to break the front of the international counter-
revolution, in order to make use of the combined forces of
the Communist International, and bring nearer the victory of
the revolution, we must strive, with all our energy, for
united international leadership in the revolutionary struggle.
The conditions essential to this are the political and organiza-
tional centralizaton of the component elements of the Com-
munst International, the doing away with the autonomy-
trickery of the opportunist, the creation of an appropriate
political organization of the executive of the Communist In-
ternational and of its entire machinery. The Congress be-
lieves that the Communist International must not confine
itself to mere demonstrations on a world-wide scale, as ad-
vocated by the Two and a Half International, or launched
by the various sections of the Communist International un-
der the same slogans. As the situation in various countries
becomes more acute, the Communist International must strive
to co-ordinate and combine the action of all the ^Bfiliated
sections or of any group of sections with the working masses
which they control. The Congress takes into account the
national peculiarities according to countries or groups of
countries, the differences in the conditions under which the
struggles take place, the strength of the enemy, and the fight-
ing ability and strength of the revolutionary forces. But the
nearer we get to uniform international fighting leadership,
the more necessary it becomes to harmonize the forms of
organization and tactics of the affiliated sections.
The Communist International imposes on all Communist
Parties the duty to support each other most energetically in
the struggle. The growing economic conflicts demand the
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— 64 —
immediate intervention of the proletariat of other countries.
The Communists must carry on diligent propaganda in the
trade unions, to prevent not only the importation of strike-
breakers, bu also the exportation of goods of those countries
where a considerable part of the workers are engaged in
battle. In cases where the capitalist government of one
country perpetrates outrages against another country by try-
ing to plunder or subjugate it, the Communist Parties must
not only protest, but do all in their power to prevent such a
pillaging campaign. The Third Congress of the Commu-
nist International welcomes the demonstration of the
French Communists as a beginning of their -action
against the counter revolutionary predatory aspiration of
French capital. It reminds them of their duty to work assid-
uously in this direction, to make the French soldiers in the
occupied territories realize that they are playing the part of
watch-dogs of French capital, and to induce them to rebel
against the disgraceful duties imposed on them.
It is the duty of the French nation conscious of the fact
that by suffering the formation of a French army of
occupation, and tolerating its permeation by a nation-
alistic spirit, it forges its own chains. In the occupied
territories of Germany troops are being drilled, in order
to be subsequently let loose against the French working
class aad to murder it in cold blood. The French Com-
munist Party is faced by the special problem of the pres-
ence of black troops in France and the occupied territories.
The French are thus able to approach these colonial slaves, to
explain to them that they are serving their oppressors and
exploiters, to rouse them to a fight against the regime of the
colonizers, and to establish connections with the colonial
peoples through this medium. The German Communist
Party must clearly explain to the German workers, that no
struggle against spoilation by Entente capital is possible
without the overthrow of the German capitalist government,
which in spite of all its outbursts against the Entente, is the
taskmaster and agent of the Entente capital. The V. K^ P,
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— 65 —
of Germany will be able to induce the workers of France to
fight their imperialism only if it takes up the dauntless, ruth-
less struggle against the German Government and thereby
proves that it is not anxious to provide a loop-hole for bank-
rupt German imperialism, but wishes to dear the ground of
the ruins of German imperialism.
The Communist International denounced before thf
world's Proletariat the indemnity demands of entente capi-
talism as a campaign of spoilation directed against the work-
ers of the vanquished countries. It brandmarked the cow-
ardly capitulation to Bourse interests by the Longuet fol-
lowers in France and the Independents in Germany who
were pleading that this spoliation be done in a gentler fash-
ion and less painfully for the workers. This indicates to
the French and German proletariat that the only way for
the reconstruction of the devastated provinces, the indemni-
fication of the widows and orphans, lies in calling the prole-
tariat of both countries to the common struggle against their
exploiters.
The German working class can help the Russian in its
hard struggle, if by a victorious combat it will precipitate
the union of agricultural Russia and industrial Germany.
It is the duty of Communist Parties of all countries taking
part in the subjugation and partition of Turkey, to do their
best toward revolutionizing these armies. ' The Communisx
Parties of the Balkan countries must strain all the efforts of
their mass parties to hasten their victory. The victory of the
Communist Parties of /Bulgaria and Serbia which will cause
the downfall of the shameful Horthy regime, and facili-*
tate the liquidation of Roumanian Boyar rule, would create
an economic basis for the Italian R evolution gnH protpr.t
it against a blockade by England. ^The unconditional supA \^
poit of Soviet Russia is still the main duty of the Commu^j - -
nists of all countries. Not only must they act resolutdjil
against any attacks on Soviet Russia, but they must also!
struggle to do away with all the obstades placed by capitalist
states in the way of Russia's communication with the world;^ ^
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Ij market and all other nations. ' Only if Soviet Russia suc-
ceeds in reconstructing economic life, in mitigating the ter-
rible misery caused by the three years of imperialist war and
three years of civil war, only when Soviet Russia will
have contrived to raise the efficiency of the masses of its
population, will it be in a position, in the future, to assist the
western proletarian States with food and raw material, and
[protect them against being enslaved by American Capital^
The International political task of the Communist Interna-
tional 'consists not in demonstrations on special occasions,
but in the permanent increase of the international relations of
the Communists, in their ceaseless struggle in closed forma-
tion. It is impossible to foretell at what front the proletariat
will succeed in breaking the capitalist lines, whether it will be
in capitalist Germany with its workers who are most cruelly
oppressed by the German and the Entente bourgeoisie, and
are faced by the alternative of either winning or dying, or in
the agrarian southwest, or in Italy, where the decay of the
bourgeoisie has reached an advanced stage. It is therefore
the duty of the Communist International to intensify its ef-
forts on all the sectors of the workers' world front, and it
is the duty of the Communist Parties to support with all their
means the decisive battles of each section of the Communist
International.* This must be achieved by immediately widen-
ing and deepening all international conflicts in every other
country, as soon as a great struggle breaks out in any one
country.
11. Decline of the Second and Two-and-a-half
Internationals.
The third year of the Communist International witnessed
the further decline of the Social Democratic Parties, and the
loss of influence and unmasking of the reformist Trade
Union leaders. During the last year, however, they have
attempted to organize themselves and proceed to an attack
on the Communist International. In England the leaders of
the Labor Party and the Trade Unions proved, during the
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coal strike, that they consider their only task to be the pre-
meditated destruction of the workers' front, which is in the
process of formation, and the conscious defence of capital
against labor. The breakdown of the Triple Alliance is
proof that the reformist Trade Union leaders do not even
wish to struggle for the improvement of the labor conditions
within the limits of the present capitalist system.
In Germany, the Social-Democratic Party, after with-
drawing from the Government, proved that it was no longer
able to carry on even agitational oppogition of the pre-war
kind. Every one of its oppositional actTofrs was carefully
calculated not to elicit any struggles of the working class.
Although apparently in the opposition in the Reichstag, So-
cial-Democracy organized a campaign in Prussia against the
Middle-German miners, for the confessed purpose of pro-
voking an armed combat before the Communist battle-front
could be organized. In the face of the capitulation of the
German bourgeoisie to the Entente, in the face of the un-
deniable fact that the German bourgeoisie is only able to
carry out the dictates of the Entente by making the living
conditions of the German proletariat absolutely unbearable,
German Social-Democracy re-entered the Government in or-
der to aid the bourgeoisie in turning the German proleta-
rians into helots. In Czecho-Slovakia, Social-Democracy
is mobilizing the military and police to deprive the Commu-
nist workers of their houses and institutions. By its policy
of prevarication, the Polish Socialist Party is abetting Pil-
sudsky in the organization of his predatory campaign against
Soviet Russia. It lends its services to the Government in
throwing thousands of Communists into prison and attempts
to drive them out of the trade unions, in which they are gain-
ing more and more hold, in spite of all persecutions. The
Belgian socialists retain their seats in a government that is
participating in the enslavement of the German people.
The centrist parties and groups of the Two and a Half In-
ternational are no less crass examples of counter-revolution-
ary organizations. The German Independents bru^uely rCf-^ t
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fused to respond to the appeal of the German Communist
party for unity of action, in spite of all differences, in the
battle against the impoverishment of the working class.
During the March revolt they took a decided stand on the
side of the White Guard movement against the Middle-Ger-
man workers, only to raise a hypocritical howl about White
Terror, after they had aided in securing victory to this very
White Terror, and had denounced the proletarian vanguard,
before the eyes of the bourgeoisie, as thieving, plundering
"gutter" proletarians. Although they pledged themselves,
at the Congress of Halle, to support Soviet Russia, their press
is replete with calumny against Soviet Russia. They step-'
ped into the ranks of the entire counter-revolutionary congre-
gation, from Wrangel to Miliukov to Burtseff, by supporting
the Kronstadt revolt against the Soviet Republic, a revolt that
signified the commencement of a new policy of international
counter-revolution against Soviet Russia to overthrow
the Communist Party of Russia, to destroy the soul, the
heart, the marrow, the nervous system of the Soviet Repub-
lic, in order then to sweep away its corpse more easily. The
French Longuetists joined the German Independents in this
campaign, thus affiliating publicly to the French counter-
revolutionary forces, who have proved to be the sponsors of
this new policy against Russia. In Italy the tactics of the
centrists, of Serrati and D'Aragona, the policy of avoiding
any struggle, has revived the courage of the bourgeoisie and
enabled it to control the life of Italy by means of its White
Fascisti Guards.
Alhough Centrism and Social Democracy differ only
in phraseology, the union of both in a single International
has not yet taken place. In fact, the centrist parties united
last February in an international association of their own,
with a separate political platform and constitution. This
Two and a Half International is attempting to oscillate on
paper between the policies of democracy and proletarian dic-
tatorship. It not only lends practical service to the capital-
ists in every country by nurturing a spirit of irresolution in
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the working clasd, but in the face of the destruction caused
by the world bourgeoisie, in face of the subjugation of a
large part of the world by the victorious capitalist states of
the Entente, it concocts plans for the bourgeoisie as to the
best means of executing its exploitation projects without un-
loosening the revolutionary forces of the proletarian masses.
The only distinction between the Two and a Half Inter-
national and the Second International lies in the fact that,
besides their common fear of the power of capital, the for-
mer is, moreover, afraid to lose the last vestiges of its in-
fluence upon the still un-classconscious though yet in spirit
revolutionary masses, by a clear formulation of its stand-
point. The political oneness of the character of reformists
and centrists is revealed in their common defence of the Am-
sterdam Trade Union International, this last bulwark of the
world bourgeoisie. By uniting with the reformists and
trade union bureaucrats in the battle against Communism
wherever they still possess any influence in the trade unions,
by responding to the attempts at revolutionizing the trade
unions by expulsion of the Communists and splits in the
trade unions, the centrists prove that in common with the
Social-Democrats, they are resolute opponents of the prole-
tarian struggle and pacemakers of the counter-revolution.
It is the task of the Communist International to wage re-
lentless war against the Two and a Half International as
well as against the Second International and the Amsterdam
Trade Union International. Only by means of such an unre-
lenting struggle, daily proving to the masses that the Social-
Democrats and Centrists are not only unwilling to fight for
the overthrow of capitalism, but not even for the simplest
and most urgent needs of the working class, will it be pos-
sible for the Communist International to liberate the work-
ing class from the grip of these lackeys of the bourgeoisie.
It cannot wage this struggle successfully except by nipping
in the bud every Centrist tendency or inclination in its own
ranks, by giving constant daily evidence of its being the In-
ternational of Communist deeds, not of Communist phrases
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or theories. The Communist International is the only or-
ganization of the world proletariat capable of conducting its
struggle against Capitalism t)n the basis of its principles.
Our task consists in so improving our internal cohesion, our
international leadership and activity, that we will, in reality,
attain the aim we have set up in our Statutes: "Organiz-
ing united action by the proletarians of all countries, aspiring
toward the same goal: the overthrow of capitalism, the es-
tablishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and of an
International Soviet Republic."
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REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE
(Adopted at the 9th Session, June 30, 1921.)
The Congress having favorably considered the report of
the Executive Committee hereby sets forth that the policy
and activities of the Executive during the past year have
been carried out in accordance with the resolutions of the
Second Congress. The Congress approves in particular of
the application of the 21 conditions in the different countries,
laid down by the Second Congress, and sanctions the work
of the Executive with regard to the formation of large
Communist mass parties and the relentless struggle against
the opportunist tendencies which manifested themselves in
various parties.
1. In Italy the attitude of Serrati and his group imme-
diately after the Second World Congress showed that they
did not take the resolutions of the World Congress and the
Communist International seriously. Especially the role
played by these leaders during the September struggle, its
conduct in Livorno and still more its policy since that time,
have clearly proved that Serrati and his colleagues only wish
to use Communism as a shield for their opportunist policy.
The split was inevitable under such conditions. The Con-
gress declares that the Executive has acted with firmness and
determination in this very important situation. It sanctions
the resolution of the Executive Committee which at the time
recognized the Communist Party of Italy to be the only
Communist section of that country.
After the Communists had left, the Livorno Congress
adopted the following resolution by Bentivoglio:
"The Congress reaffirming its adherence to the Third In-
ternational hereby refers the entire conflict to the comiMp ,
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Congress and pledges itself in advance to abide by and exe-
cute its resolution."
The Third Congress of the Communist International de-
clares that this decision of the Serrati group has been
forced upon them by the revolutionary workers. The Con-
gress trusts that these same revolutionary elements of the
working class are going to see to it that the decisions of the
Third World Congress be actually carried out
In reply to the appeal of the Livorno Congress the Third
World Congress hereby submits the following ultimattun:
The Socialist Party of Italy cannot remain within the
ranks of the Communist International so long as the par-
ticipants of the reformist-conference at Reggio-Emilia and
their supporters have not been expelled from the party.
After this ultimative pledge will have been fulfilled the
Executive is to take the necessary steps to bring about a
union between the Socialist Party in Italy, after the latter
will have purified itself from all reformist and centrist ele-
ments, and the Communist Party of Italy, and combine
both organizations into a unified section of the Commu-
nist International.
2. In Germany the Party Conference of the U. S. P. D.
in Halle was the consequence of the resolutions of the
Second World Congress which in their turn were based on
the development of the labor movement. The work of the
Executive was directed towards the formation of a strong
Communist Party in Germany, and experience has proved
that this* policy was a correct one. The Congress also
completely approves of the attitude of the Executive to-
wards the events within the V. K. P. D.
It expresses the hope that the policy applied to-day in en-
forcing the fundamental principles of international revo-
lutionary discipline will also be followed by the Executive
Committee in the future.
3. The acceptance of the K. A. P. D. as a sympathizing
party of the Communist International had for its aim to put
the K. A. P. D. on trial and ascertain if it would adapt itself
to the requirements of the Communist International. QqqqTp
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This period of trial should suffice and the K. A. P. D.
should be required to join the V. K. P. D. within a set pe-
riod ; otherwise the K. A. P. D. is to be excluded from the
Communist International as a sympathizing party.
The Congress approves of the manner in which the
Executive applied the 21 conditions to the French party.
By its actions it has succeeded in getting* the laboring masses
which are tending towards Communism away from the Lon-
guet opportunists and centrists, and to promote their de-
velopment. The Congress trusts that the Executive will do
its utmost for the furtherance of an active and class con-
scious Communist Party.
4. In Czecho-Slovakia the Executive has followed up
with great patience and tact the revolutionary development
of a proletariat which has already given proof of its deter-
mination and readiness to take a share in the revolutionary
struggle. The Congress approves of the decision of the
Executive to accept the Czech Communist Party as. a mem-
ber of the Communist International. The Congress trusts
that the Executive will insist that the 21 conditions be un-
swervingly carried out by the Czech Communist Party and
that a united Communist Party be formed comprising all the
nationalities of Czecho-Slovakia with a purely Communist
program under firm Communist leadership and on a cen-
tralized basis, and also that the trade unions of that country
will be speedily and decisively won over and united inter-
nationally.
5. With regard to the work of the Executive Commit-
tee on the countries of the Near and Far East, the Con-
gress welcomes its extensive activity, and considers that
the transition to intensified organization work in these coun-
tries not possible of postponement.
Finally the Congress repudiates the objections which have
been raised by the open and disguised adversaries of Com-
munism against vigorous international centralization of the
Communist movement. It expresses its deep conviction
that all the parties will send their best forces to the Execu-
tive, and thereby bring dibmt a still more militant political
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central leadership which is necessary for the indissoluble
anions of the affiliated Communist Parties. The lack of
such a leadership made itself felt, for instance, in the un-
employment and reparation questions in which the Execu-
tive did not act promptly and effectively. The Congress
trusts that, with the increased co-operation of the affiliated
parties in the organization of a more efficient apparatus and
with the intensified collaboration of the parties in the Execu-
tive, the latter will be enabled to fulfill its ever increasing
tasks on a still larger scale than it has done hitherto.
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THE ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTRUCTION
OF THE COMMUNIST PARTIES AND
THE METHODS AND SCOPE OF
THEIR ACTIVITY
Guiding Rules for the Construction and Organigation of
Communist Parties.
1. General Principles
1) The organization of the Party must be adapted to the
conditions and to the goal of its activity. The Communist
Party must be the vanguard — the advance troops of the
proletariat — through all the phases of its revolutionary class
struggle and during the subsequent transition period towards
the realization of Socialism, i. e., the first stage of the
Communist Society.
2) There can be no absolutely infallible and unalterable
form of organization for the Communist Parties. The con-
ditions of the proletarian class struggle are subject to changes
in a continuous process of evolution, and in accordance with
these changes the organization of the proletarian vanguard
must be constandy seeking for the corresponding forms.
The peculiar conditions of every individual country likewise
determine the special adaptation of the forms of organiza-
tion of the respective Parties.
But this differentiation has definite limits. Regardless of
all peculiarities, the equality of the conditions of the prole-
tarian class-struggle in the various countries and through the
various phases of the proletarian revolution is of funda-
mental importance to the Intematoinal Communist Move-
ment, creating a common basis for the organization of
Communist Parties in all countries.
Upon this basis it is necessary to develop the organization
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of the Communist Parties but not to seek to establish any
new model parties instead of the existing ones or to aim at
any absolutely correct forms of organization and ideal
constitutions.
3) Most Communist Parties, and consequently the Com-
mtmist International as the united party of the revolutionary
proletariat of the world, have this common feature in their
conditions of struggle, that they still have to fight against
the dominant bourgeoisie. To conquer the bourgeoisie and
to wrest the power from its hands is for all of them, until
further developments, the determining and guiding main
goal. Accordingly, the determining factor in the organizing
activity of the Communist Parties in the capitalist countries
must be the upbuilding of such organizations as will make
the victory of the proletarian revolution over the possessing
classes both possible and secure.
4) Leadership is a necessary condition for any common
action, but most of all it is indispensable in the greatest fight
in the world's history. The organization of the Communist
Party is the organization of communist leadership in the
proletarian revolution.
To be a good leader the Party itself must have good lead-
ership. Accordingly, the principal task of our organization
work must be the education, organization and training of
efficient Communist Parties under capable directing organs
to the leading place in the proletarian revolutionary move-
ment.
5) The leadership in the revolutionary class struggle pre-
supposes the organic combination of the greatest possible
striking force and of the greatest adaptability on the part of
the Communist Party and its leading organs to the ever-
changing conditions of the struggle. Furthermore, success-
ful leadership requires absolutely the closest association with
the proletarian masses. Without such association, the leader-
ship will not lead the masses, but, at best, will follow behind
the masses.
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The organic unity in the Communist Party organization
must be attained through democratic centralization.
II. On Democratic Centralization
6) Democratic centralism in the Communist Party orga- '
nization must be a real synthesis, a fusion of centralism and
proletarian democracy. This fusion can be achieved only on
the basis of constant common activity, constant common
struggle of the entire party organization. Centralization in
the Communist Party organization does not mean a formal
and mechanical centralization, but a centralization of com-
munist activity, that is to say the formation of a strong
leadership, ready for war and at the same time capable of
adaptability. A formal or mechanical centralization is the
centralization of the "power" in the hands of the party bu-
reaucracy, dominating over the rest of the membership or
over the masses of the revolutionary proletariat standing
outside the organization. Only the enemies of communism
can assert that the Communist Party conducting the prole-
tarian class struggles and centralizing this communist leader-
ship is trying to rule over the revolutionary proletariat. Such
an assertion is a lie. Neither is any rivalry for power or
any contest for supremacy within the party at all compatible
with the fundamental principles of democratic centralism .
adopted by the Communist International.
In the, organization of the old, non-revolutionary labor
movement, there has developed an all-pervading dualism of
the same nature as that of the bourgeois State, namely the
dualism between the bureaucracy and the "people." Under
the baneful influence of bourgeois environment there has
developed a separation of functions, a substitution of barren,
formal democracy for the living association of common en-
deavour, and the splitting up of the organization into a.ctive
functionaries and passive masses. Even the revolutionary
labor movement inevitably inherits this tendency to dualism
and formalism to a certain extent from the bourgeois envir-
onment. ^^ ,
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The Communist Party must fundamentally overcome
these contrasts by systematic and persevering political and
organizing work and by constant improvement and revision.
7) In transforming a socialist mass party into a Com-
munist Party, the Party must not confine itself to merely
concentrating the authority in the hands of its central leader-
ship while leaving the old order unchanged. Centralization
should not merely exist on paper, but be actually carried out,
and this is possible of achievement only when the members
at large will fed this central authority as a fundamentally
efficient instrument in their common activity and struggle.
Otherwise, it will appear to the masses as a bureaucracy
within the Party and therefore likely to stimulate opposition
to all centralization, to all leadership, to all stringent disci-
pline. Anarchism is the opposite pole of bureaucracy.
Merely formal democracy in the organization cannot re-
move either bureaucratic or anarchical tendencies, which
have found fertile soil in the workers' movement on the basis
of just that democracy. Therefore, the centralization of the
organization, i. e., the aim to create a strong leadership,
cannot be successful if its achievement is sought on the basis
of formal democracy. The necessary preliminary conditions
are the development and maintainance of living associations
and mutual relations within the Party between the directing
organs and the members, as well as between the Party and
the masses of the proletariat outside of the Party.
III. On the Duties of Communist Activity
8) The Communist Party must be a training school for
revdutionary Mandsm. The organic ties between the dif-
ferent parts of the organization and the membership become
joined through daily common work in the party organization.
Regular participation on the part of most of the members
in the daily work of the Party is lacking even today in the
lawful Communist Parties. That is the chief fault of these
parties, forming the basis of constant insecurity in their
development
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9) In the first stages of its Communist transformation
every workmen's Party is in danger of being content with
having accepted a Communist program, with having substi-
tuted the old doctrine in its propaganda by Communist
teachings and having replaced the officials belonging to the
hostile camp by Communist officials. The acceptance of a
Communist program is only the expression of the will to be-
come a Communist. If the Communist activity is lacking
and the passivity of the mass of members still remains, then
the party does not fulfil even the least part of the pledge it
had taken upon itself in accepting the Communist program.
For the first condition for an earnest carrying out of the
pf#gram is the participation of all the members in the con-
stant daily work of the Party.
The art of Communist organization lies in the ability of
making use of each and every one for the proletarian class
struggle ; of distributing the Party work amongst all the
Party members, and of constantly attracting through its
members ever wider masses of the proletariat to the revo-
lutionary movement; further it must hold the direction of
the whole movement in its hand not by virtue of its might,
but by its authority, energy, greater experience, greater all-
round knowledge, and capabilities.
10) A Communist Party must strive to hare only really
active members, and to demand from every rank and file
party worker that he should place his whole strei^[th and
time, in so far as he can himself dispose of it, under exist-
ing conditions, at the disposal of his Party and devote his
best forces to these services .
Membership in the Communist Party entails nautrally,
besides communist convictions — formal registration, first as
a candidate, then as a member ; likewise, the regular payment
of the established dues, the subscription to the Party paper,
etc. But the most important is the participation of each
member in the daily work of the Party.
11) For the purpose of carrying on the Party work
every Party member must as a rule be also a member of a
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smaller working group: a committee, a commission, a board
group, faction, or nucleus. Only in this way can the Party
work be properly distributed, directed and carried on.
Attendance at the general meetings of the members of the
local organizations of course goes without saying :*it is not
wise to try under conditions of legal existence, to replace
those periodical meetings under lawful conditions by meet-
ings of local representatives . All the members must be
bound to attend these meetings regularly. But that is in no
way sufficient. The very preparations for these meetings
presupposes work in smaller groups or through comrades de-
tailed for the purpose, effectively utilizing as well as the
preparations for the general workers' meetings, demonsti^p-
tions and mass actions of the working class. The numer-
ous tasks connected with these activities can be carefully
studied only in smaller groups, and carried out intensively.
Without such a constant daily work of the entire member-
ship divided among the great mass of the smaller groups of
workers, even the most laborious endeavors to take part in
the class struggles of the proletariat will lead only to weak
and futile attempts to influence those struggles, but not to the
necessary consolidation of the proletariat into a single unified
capable Communist Party.
12) Communist nuclei must be formed for the daily
work in the different branches of the Party activities: for
home agitation, for Party study, for newspaper work, for the
distribution of literary matter, for information service, for
constant service, etc.
These Communist units are the nuclei for the daily Com-
munist work in the factories and workshops, in the trade
unions, in the proletarian associations, in military units, etc.,
wherever there are at least several members or candidates
for membership in the Communist Party. If there are a
greater number of Party members in the same factory or in
the same union, etc., then the nuclei is enlarged into a fac-
tion, and its work is directed. by the nucleus.
Should it be necessary to form a wider general opposi-
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tion faction, or to take part in an existing one, then the
QMnmunists should try to take the leadership in it through
their special nucleus.
Whether a Communist nucleus is to come out in the open,
as far as its own surroundings are concerned, or even before
the general public, will depend on the special conditions of
the case after a serious study of the dangers and the advan-
tages thereof.
13) The introduction of general obligatory work in the
Party and the organization of these small working groups is
an especially difficult task for Communist mass parties. It
cannot be carried out all at once, it demands unwearying
perseverance, mature consideration and much energy.
It is especially important that this new form of organi-
zation should be carried out from the very beginning with
care and mature consideration. It would be an easy matter
to divide all the members in each organization according to a
formal scheme into small nuclei and groups and to call these
latter at once to the general daily party work. Such a be-
ginning would be worse than no beginning at all; it would
only call forth discontent and aversion among the Party
members towards these important innovations.
It is recommended that the Party should take council with
several capable organizers, who are also convinced and in-
spired Communists and thoroughly acquainted with the state
of the movement in the various centres of the country and
work out a detailed foundation for the introduction of these
innovations. After that, trained organizers or Organization
Committees must take up the work on the spot, elect the
first leaders of groups and conduct the first steps of the
work. All the organizations, working groups, nuclei, and
individual members must then receive concrete, precisely de-
fined tasks presented in such a way as to at once appear to
them to be useful, desirable and executable. Wherever it
may be necessary they must be shown by practical demon-
strations, in what way these tasks are to be carried out.
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They must be warned at the same time of the false steps
especially to be avoided.
14) This work of reorganization must be carried out in
practice step by step. In the beginning too many nuclei or
groups of workers should not be formed in the local organi-
zation. It must first be proved in small cases that the nuclei
formed in the separate important factories and trade unions
are functioning properly, and that the necessary groups of
workers have been formed also in the other chief branches
of the Party activity and have in some degree become consoli-
daed (for instance in the information, communication, wom-
en's movement, or agitation department, newspaper work,
unemployed movement, etc.). Before the new organiza-
tion apparatus will have acquired a certain practice the old
frames of the organization should not be heedlessly broken
up.
At the same time this fundamental task of the Commu-
nist organization work must be carried out everywhere with
the greatest energy. This places great demands not only
on a legal Party, but also on every illegal Party.
Until a widespread network of Communist nuclei, factions
and groups of workers will be at work at all the central
points of the proletarian class struggle, until every member
of the party will be doing his share of the daily revolutionary
work and this will have become natural and habitual for the
members, the Party can allow itself no rest in its strenuous
labors for the carrying out of this task.
15) This fundamental organizational task imposes upon
the leading Party organs the obligation of constantly direct-
ing and exercising a systematic influence over the Party
work. This requires manifold exertion on the part of those
comrades who are active in the leadership of their organi-
zations of the Party. Those in charge of Communist activity
must not only see to it that the comrades, men and women,
should be engaged in Party work in general, they must help
and direct such work systematically and with practical knowl-
edge of the business with a precise orientation in regard to
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special conditions. They must also endeavor to find out any
mistakes committed in their own activities on the basis of
acquired experience, constantly improving the methods of
work and not forgetting for a moment the object of the
struggle.
16) Our whole party work consists either of direct
struggle on theoretical or practical grounds or of preparation
for the struggle. The specialization of this work has been
very defective up to now. There are quite important
branches in which the activity of the Party has been only
occasional. For instance, the lawful parties have done little
in the matter of combatting the secret service men. The
instructing of the Party comrades has been carried on, as
a rule, only casually, as a secondary matter, and so super-
ficially that the greater part of the most important resolu-
tions of the Party, even the Party programme and the reso-
lutions of the Commimist International have remained un-
known to the large strata of the membership. The instruc-
tion work must be carried on methodically and unceasingly
through the whole mass system of the Party organizations in
all the working communities of the Party in order to obtain
an even higher degree of specialization.
17) To the duties of the Communist activity belongs also
that of submitting reports. This is the duty of all the or-
ganizations and organs of the Party as well as of every in-
dividual member. There must be general reports made cov-
ering short periods of time. Special reports must be made
on the "work of special committees of the party. It is essen-
tial to make the work of reporting so systematic that it
should become an established procedure as the best tradi-
tion*of the Communist movement.
18) The Party must hand in its quarterly report to the
leading bp^y of the Communist International. Each organi-
zation in the Party has to hand in its report to the next
leading Committee (for instance, monthly reports of the lo-
cal branches to the corresponding Party Committee).
Each nucleuSj faction and group of workers must send its
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report to the Party organ under whose leadership it is
placed. The individual members must hand in their re-
ports to the nucleus or group of workers (respectively to
the leader) to which he belongs, and on the carrying out of
some special charge to the Party organ from whom the. or-
der was received.
The reports must always be made at the first opportunity.
It is to be made by word of mouth, unless the Party or &e
person who had given the order demands a written rqx)rt.
The reports must be concise and to the point. The receiver
of the report is responsible for having such communica-
tions as cannot be published without harm kept in safe cus-
tody, that important reports be sent in without delay to the
corresponding leading Party organ.
19) All these reports must naturally not be limtied to the
account of what the reporter had done himself. They must
contain also information on such circumstances which may
have come to light during the course of the work and which
have a certain significance for our struggle, particularly,
such considerations which may give rise to modification or
improvement of our future work. Also proposals for im-
provements, the necessity of which may have made itself
felt during the work must be included in the report.
In all the Communist nuclei, factions and groups of work-
ers, all reports, both those that have been handed in to them
and those that they have to send must be thoroughly dis-
cussed. Such discussions must become a regular h^bit.
Care must be taken in the nuclei and groups of workers
that individual Party members or groups of members be
regularly charged with observing and reporting on hostile
organizations, especially with regard to the petty-bourgeois
workers' organizations and chiefly the organizations of the
"socialist" parties.
IV. On Propaganda and Agitation
20) Our chief general duty to the open revolutionary
struggle is to carry on revolutionary propaganda and agita-
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tion. This work and its organization is still, in the main,
being conducted in the old and formal manner, by means
of casual speeches,. at mass meeting and without special care
for the concrete revolutionary substance of the speeches and
writings.
Communist propaganda and agitation must be made to
take root in the very midst of the workers, out of their
common interest and aspirations and especially out of their
common struggles.
The most important point to remember is — that commu-
nist propaganda must be of a revolutionary character.
Therefore the communist watchword and the whole commu-
nist attitude towards concrete questions must receive our
special attention and consideration.
In order to achieve the correct attitude, not only the pro-
fessional propagandists and agitators, but also all other party
members must be carefully instructed.
21) The principal forms of communist propaganda and
agitation are: individual verbal propaganda, participation in
the industrial and political labor movement, propaganda
through the party press and distribution of literature. Every
member of a legal or illegal party is to participate regularly
in one or the other of these forms of propaganda.
Individual propaganda must take the form of systematic
house to house canvassing by special groups of workers.
Not a single houSe, within the area of party influence, must
be omitted from this canvass. In larger towns a specially
organized outdoor campaign with posters and distribution of
leaflets usually produce 3atisfactory results. In addition, the
factions should carry on a regular personal agitation in the
workshops, accompanied by distribution of literature.
In countries whose population contains national minori-
ties, it is the duty of the Party to devote the necessary atten-
tion to propaganda and agitation among the proletarian strata
of these minorities. The propaganda and agitation must,
of course, be conducted in the languages of the ^^P^^^qqqI^
— 16 —
national minorities, for which purpose the Party must create
the necessary special organs .
22) In those capitalist countries where a large majority
of the proletariat has not yet reached revolutionary con-
sciousness, the Communist agitators must be constantly on
the lookout for new forms of propaganda, in order to meet
these backward workers half way, and thus facilitate their
entry into the revolutionary ranks. The communist propa-
ganda, with its watchwords, must bring out the budding,
unconscious incomplete, vacillating and semi-bourgeois revo-
lutionary tendencies yhich are struggling for supremacy
with the bourgeois traditions and conceptions in the minds
of the workers.
At the same time communist propaganda must not rest
content with the limited and confused demands or aspirations
of the proletarian masses. These demands and expectations
contain revolutionary germs and are a means of bringing the
proletariat under the influence of communist propaganda.
23) Communist agitation among the proletarian masses
must be conducted in such a way that our communist organi-
zation be recognized by the struggling proletarians as the
courageous, intelligent, energetic and ever faithful leader of
their own labor movement.
In order to achieve this, the Communists must take part
in all the elementary struggles and movements of the work-
ers, and must defend the workers' cause in all conflicts be-
tween them and the capitalists over hours and conditions of
labor, wages, etc. The communists must also pay great
attention to the concrete questions of working class life.
They must help the workers to come to a right understand-
ing of these questions. They must draw their attention
to the most flagrant abuses and must help them to formulate
their demands in a practical and concise form. In this
way they will awaken in the workers the spirit of solidarity,
the consciousness of community of interests among all the
workers of the country as a united working class, which, in
its turn, is a section of the world army of proletarians.
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It is only through the everyday performance of such ele-
mentary duties, and through participation in all the strug-
gles of the proletariat that the Communist Party can develop
into a real communist party. It is only by adopting such
methods that it will be distinguished from the propagandists
of the hackneyed, so called, pure socialist propaganda, con-
sisting of recruiting new members and talking about re-
forms and the use of all parliamentary possibilities, or rather
impossibilities. The self-sacrificing and conscious partici-.
pation of all the party members in the daily struggles and
controversies of the exploited with the exploiters is essen-
tially necessary not only for the conquest, but in a still high-
er degree, for the carrying out of the dictatorship of the pro-
letariat. It is only through leading the working masses in the
petty warfare against the onslaughts of capitalism that the
communist party will be able to become the vanguard of the
working class, acquiring the capacity for systematic leader-
ship of the proletariat in its struggle for supremacy over the
bourgeoisie.
24) Communists must be mobilized in full force, espe-
cially in times of strikes, lockouts and other mass dismis-
sals of the workers, in order to take part in the workers'
movement.
It would be a great mistake for Communists to treat
with contempt the present struggles of the workers for slight
improvements of their working conditions, even to main-
tain a passive attitude to them, on the plea of the Commu-
nist programme and the need of armed revolutionary strug-
gle for final aims. No matter how small and modest the
demands of the workers may be for which they are ready
and willing to fight today with the capitalist, the Commu-
nists must never make the smallness of the demands an ex-
cuse at the same time for non-participation in the struggle.
Our agitational activity should not lay itself bare to the
accusaion of stirring up and inciting the workers to non-
sensical strikes and other inconsiderate actions. The Com-
munists must try to acquire the reputation among the strug-
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gling masses of being courageous and effective participators
in their struggles.
25) The communist cells (or fractions) within the trade
union movement have often proved themselves in practice
rather helpless before some of the most ordinary questions
of everyday life. It is easy, but not fruitful to keep on
preaching the general principles of Communism, and then
fall into the negative atttitude of common place syndicalism
when faced with concrete questions. Such practices only
play into the hands of the yellow Amsterdam International.
Communists should, on the contrary, be guided in their
actions by a careful study of the practical aspect of every
question.
For instance, instead of contenting themselves with resist-
ing theoretically and on principle all trade agreements, they
should rather take the lead in the struggle over the specific
nature of the trade agreements recommended by the Am-
sterdam leaders. It is, of course, necessary to condemn
and resist any kind of impediment to the revolutionary
preparedness of the proletariat, and it is a well known fact
that it is the aim of the capitalists and their Amsterdam
myrmidons to tie the hands of the workers by all manner of
trade agreements. Therefore, it behooves the Communists
to open the eyes of the workers to the nature of these
aims. This the Communists can best attain by advocating
a trade agreement which would not hamper the workers.
The same should be done in connection with the unemploy-
ment, sickness and other benefits of the trade-union organi-
zations. The creation of fighting funds and the granting of
strike pay are measures which, in themselves, are to be com-
mended.
Therefore, an opposition on principle against such activi-
ties would be ill advised. But Communists should point out
to the workers that the manner of collection of these funds
and their use as advocated by the Amsterdam Leaders is
against all the revolutionary interests of the working class.
In connection with sick benefit, etc.. Communists should in-
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sist on the abolition of the contributory system, and of all
binding conditions in connection with all Voluntary funds.
If some of the trade union members are still anxious to
secure sick benefits by paying contributions it would not do
for us to simply prohibit such payments, for fear of not
being understood by them. It will be necessary to win over
such workers from their petty bourgeois conceptions by an
intensive personal propaganda.
26) In the struggle against the social democratic and
other petty bourgeois trade union leaders, as well as against
the leaders of various labor parties one cannot hope to
achieve much by persuasion. The struggle against them
should be conducted in the most energetic fashion, and the
best way to do that is by depriving them of their following,
showing up to the workers the true character of these treach-
erous socialist leaders who are only playing into the hands of
capitalism. The Communists should endeavor to unmask
these so-called leaders, and subsequently attack them in the
\ most energetic fashion.
It is not by any means sufficient to call Amsterdam lead-
ers yellow. Their "yellowness" must be proved by con-
tinual and practical illustrations. Their activities in the
trade-unions, in the International Labor Bureau of the
League of Nations, in the bourgeois ministries and adminis-
trations ; their treacherous speeches* at conferences and in
parliament; the exhortations contained in many of their writ-
ten messages and in Press, and above all their vacillation and
hesitating attitude in all struggles even for the most modest
rise in wages, oflFer constant opportunities for exposing the
treacherous behavior of the Amsterdam leaders in simply
worded speeches and resolutions.
The nuclei and factions must conduct their practical van-
guard movement in a systematic fashion. The Commu-
nists must not allow the excuses of the minor trade-union
officials, who, notwithstanding good intentions, often take
refuge, through sheer weakness, behind statutes, union deci-
sions and instructions from their superiors to hamper ^^f^^QQlp
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— 90 —
march forward. On the contrary, they must insist on getting
satisfaction from the minor officials in the matter of the
removal of all real or imaginary obstacles put in the way of
the workers by the bureaucratic machine.
27) The fractions must carefully prepare the participa-
tion of the communists in conferences and meetings of the
trade union organizations. For instance, they must elabo-
rate proposals, select lectures and counsel and put up as
candidates for election, capable, experienced and energetic
comrades.
The Communist organizations must, through their frac-
tions, also make careful preparations in connection with all
workers' meetings, election meetings, demonstrations, politi-
cal festivals and such like, arranged by the hostile organi-
zations. Wherever Communists convene their own workers'
meetings, they must endeavor to have considerable groups
of communists distributed among the audience, and they
must make all due preparations for the assurance of satis-
factory propaganda results.
28) Communists must also learn how to draw unorgan-
ized and backward workers permanently into the ranks of
the Party. With the help of our nuclei and fractions we
must induce the workers to join the trade unions and to read
our Party organs. Other organizations, as for instance, edu-
cational boards, study circles, sporting clubs, dramatic so-
cieties, co-operative societies, consumers' associations, war-
victims' organizations, etc., may be used as intermediaries
between us and the workers. Where the Communist Party
is working illegally, such workers' unions may be formed
outside of the Party through the initiative of Party mem-
bers and with the consent and under the control of the
leading Party organs (unions of sympathizers).
Communist youths and women's organizations may also
be helpful in rousing the interest of the many politically in-
diflferent proletarians, and in drawing them eventually into
the Communist Party, through the intermediary of their edu-
cational courses, reading circles, excursions, festivals, Sun-
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day rambles, etc., distribution of leaflets, increasing the cir-
culation of the Party organ, etc. Through participation in
the general movement, the workers will free themselves
from their petty bourgeois inclinations.
29) In order to win the semi-proletarian sections of the
workers as sympathizers of the revolutionary proletarians,
the Communists must make use of their special antagonisms
to the landowners, the capitalists and the capitalist state in
order to win these inermediary groups from their mistrust
of the proletariat. This may require prolonged negotiations
with them, or intelligent sympathy with their needs, free help
and advice in any difficulties, also opportunities to improve
their education, etc., all of which will give them confidence
in the Communist movement. Communists must also en-
deavor to counteract the pernicious influence of hostile
organizations which occupy authoritative positions in the re-
spective districts, or may have influence over the petty bour-
geois working peasantry, over those who work in the home-
industries and other semi-proletarian classes. Those who
are known by the exploited, from their own bitter experi-
ence, to be the representatives and embodiment of the en-
tire criminal capitalist system, must be unmasked. All every-
day occurrences which bring the State bureaucracy into con-
flict with the ideals of petty bourgeois democracy and juris-
diction, must be made use of in a judicial and energetic man-
ner in the course of communist agitation.
Each local country organization must carefully apportion
among its members the duties of house to house canvassing,
in order to spread Communist propaganda in all the villages,
farm steads and isolated dwellings in their district.
30) The methods of propaganda in the armies and navies
of capitalist states must be adapted to the peculiar condi-
tions in each country. Anti-militarist agitation of a paci-
fist nature is extremely detrimental, and only assists the
bourgeois in its efforts to disarm the proletariat. The pro-
letariat rejects on principle and combats with the utmost
energy, every kind of military institution of the bourgeois^^ j
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State, and of the bourgeois class in general. Neverthdess, it i^
utilizes these institutions (army, rifle clubs, citizen guard
organizations, etc.) for the purpose of giving the workers J^^
military training for the revolutionary battles to come. In- ^
tensive agitation must therefore be directed not against the
military training of the youth and workers, but against the q7"
militaristic regime, and the domination of the officers. Every
possibility of providing the workers with weapons should S'
most eagerly be taken advantage of. ^
Put
The class antagonisms, revealing themselves as they do in
the materially favored positions of the officers as against the
bad treatment and social insecurity of life of the common
ioldiers, must be made very clear to the soldiers. Besides,
the agitation must bring home the fact to the rank and file ^^^
that its future is inextricably bound up with the fate of
the exploited classes. In a more advanced period of inci-
pient revolutionary fermentation, agitation for the democratic . ^
election of all commanders by the privates and sailors and . ^
for the formation of soldiers' councils may prove very ad- ^
vantageous in undermining the foundations of capitalist rule. ^^^
The closest attention and the greatest carfe are always re- ^
quired when agitating against the picked troops used by the ^ ^
bourgeoisie in the class war, and especially against its armed ^si
volunteer bands. ^^
Wherever the social composition and corrupt conduct of ^
these troops and bands make it possible, every favorable ^^
moment for agitation should be made use of for creating ^
disruption. Wherever it possesses a distinct bourgeois class 1*^
character, as for example, in the officers corps, it must be un- ^ <
masked before the entire population, and made so despicable ^t
and repulsive, that they will be disrupted from within by ^i
virtue of their very isolation. ^^^i
V. The Organization of Political Struggles
31) For a Communist Party there can be no period in p^
which its party organization cannot exercise political activity. su
For the purpose of utilizing every political and economic th
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— 93 —
situation, as well as all the changes in these situations, or-
ganizational strat^y and tactics must be dereloped. No
matter how weak the party may be, it can nevertheless take
advantage of exciting political events or of extensive strikes
aflFecting the entire economic system, by a radical propaganda.
Once a party has studied to thus ipake use of a particular
situation it must concentrate the energy of all its members
and party in this campaign.
Furthermore, all the connections which the party pos-
sesses through the work of it» nuclei and workers' groups
must be used for organizing mass meetings in the centers
of political importance and following up a strike. The speak-
ers for the party must do their utmost to convince the au-
diences that only communism can bring the struggle to a suc-
cessful conclusion. Special commissions must prepare these
meetings very thoroughly. If the party cannot for some rea-
son hold meetings of its own, suitable comrades should ad-
dress the strikers at the general meetings organized by the
strikers or any other section of the struggling proletariat.
Wherever there is a possibility of inducing the majority
or a large part of any meeting to support our demands, these
must be well formulated and properly argued in motions and
resolutions to be submitted for adoption. In the event of
such resolutions being passed, attempts must be made to have
similar resolutions or motions adopted in ever increasing
numbers, at any rate supported by strong minorities at all
the meetings hdd on the same question at the same place or
in other localities. In this way we shall be able to consoli-
date the working masses in the movement, put them under
our moral influence, and have them recognize our leader-
ship.
After all such meetings the committees which partici-
pated in the organizational preparations and utilized its op-
portunities must hold a conference to make a report to be
sulwnitted to the leading committee of the party and draw
the proper conclusions from the experiences or possible mis-
takes made, for the future. In accordance with each par-
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ticular situation, the practical demands of the workers in-
volved must be made public by means of posters and hand-
bills, or leaflets distributed among the workers, proving to
them by means of their own demands how the Communist
policies are in agreement with and applicable to the situation.
Specially organized groups are required for the proper dis-
tribution of posters, the choice of suitable spots as well as
the proper time for such pasting. The distribution of hand-
bills should be carried out in and before the factories and in
the halls where the workers concerned are wont to gather,
also at important points in the town, employment offices and
stations ; such distribution of leaflets should be accompanied
by attractive discussions and slogans, readily permeating all
the ranks of the working masses. Detailed leaflets should
if possible be distributed only in halls, factories, dwellings or
other places where proper attention to the printed matter
may be expected.
Such propaganda must be supported by parallel activity
at alljthe trade union or factory meetings held during the
conflict, and at such meetings, whether organized by our
comrades or only favored by us, suitable speakers and de-
baters must seize the opportunity of convincing the masses
of our point of view. Our party newspapers must place at
the disposal of such a special movement the greater part of
their space as well as their best arguments. In fact, the
entire party organization must for the time being be made
to serve the general purpose of such a movement, whereby
our comrades may work with unabated energy.
32) Demonstrations require very mobile and self-sacri-
ficing leadership, closely intent upon the aim of a particular
action, and able to discern at any given moment whether a
demonstration has reached its highest possible effectiveness,
or whether, during that particular situation, a further inten-
sification is possible by inducing an extension of the move-
ment into an action of the masses, by means of demonstra-
tion strikes and eventually general strikes. The demonstra-
tions in favor of peace during the war have taught us that ^
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— 95 —
even after the dispersal of such demonstrations, a really
proletarian fighting party must neither deviate nor stand still
no matter how small or illegal it may be, if the question at
issue is of real importance and is bound to become of ever
greater interest for the large masses.
Street demonstrations attain greatest effectiveness when
their organization is based jQn the large factories . When effi-
cient preparations by our nuclei and groups by means of ver-
bal and handbill propaganda has succeeded in bringing a cer-
tain unity of thought and action in a particular situation, the
managing committee must call the confidential party members
in the factories, and the leaders of the nuclei and groups to a
conference, to discuss and fix the time and business of the
meeting on the day planned, as well as the determination
of slogans, the prospects of intensification, and the moment
of cessation and dispersal of the demonstration. The back-
bone of the demonstration must be formed by a well in-
structed and experienced group of diligent officials, ming-
ling among the masses from the moment of departure from
the factories up to the time of dispersal of the demonstration.
Responsible party workers must be systematically distributed
among the masses, for the purpose of enabling the officials
to retain active contact with each other and keeping ihem
provided with the requisite political instructions. Such a
mobile, politically organized leadership of a demonstration
permits most effectively of constant renewal and eventual
intensification into greater mass actions.
33) Communist Parties already possessing internal firm-
ness, a tried corps of officials and a considerable number of
adherents among the masses, must exert every effort to
completely overcome the influence of the treacherous social-
ist leaders on the working class by means of extensive cam-
paigns, and to rally the majority of working masses to tie
Communist banners. Campaigns must be organized in va-
rious ways depending upon whether the situation favora ac-
tual fighting, in which case they become active and • 't hcm-
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— 96 —
»
selves at the head of the prdetarian movement or whether
it is a period of temporary stagnation.
The make-up of the Party is also one of the determining
factors for selection of the organized methods for such ac-
tions.
For example, the method of publishing a so-called "Open
Letter" was used in order to win over to the V. K. P. D.,
as a young mass party, the soci^y decisive sections of the
proletariat to a greater extent than had been possible in
certain districts. In order to unmask the treic serous 3o
cialist leaders, the Communist Party addressed itself to the
other mass organizations of the proletariat at a moment of
increasing desolation and intensification of class conflicts,
for the purpose of demanding from them, before the eyes
of the proletariat, whether they, with their all^edly power-
ful organizations, were prepared to take up the struggle, in
co-operation with the Communist Party, against the obvious
destitution of the proletariat, and for the slightest demands,
even for a pitiful piece of bread.
Wherever the Communist Party initiates a similar cam-
paign, it must make complete organizational prq>arations
for the purpose of making such an action re-echo among
the broad masses of the working class.
All the factory groups and trade-union officials of the
party must bring the demands made by the party, represent-
ing the embodiment of the most vital demands of the prole-
tariat, to a discussion at their next factory and trade-tmion
meetings, as well as at all public meetings, after having
thoroughly prepared for such meetings. For the purpose
of taking advantage of the temper of the masses, leaflets,
handbills and posters must be distributed everywhere and
effectively at all places where our nuclei or groups intend
to make an attempt to influence the masses to support our
demands. Our party press must engage in constant duci**
dation of the problems of the movement during the entire
period of such a campaign, by means of short or detailed
daily articles, treating the various phases of the question j
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— 97 —
from every possible point of view. The organizations must
continually supply the press with the material for such ar-
ticles and pay dose attention that the editors do not let up
in their exertions for the furtherance of the party campaign.
The parliamentary groups and municipal representatives of
the party must also work systematically for the promotion
of such struggles. They must bring the movement into dis-
cussion, according to the directions of the party leadership,
in the various parliamentary bodies by means of resolutions
or motions. These representatives must consider themselves
as conscious members of the struggling masses, their expo-
nents in the camp of the class enemy, and as the responsible
officials and party workers.
In case the united, organizationally consolidated activities
of all the forces of the party succeed, within a few weeks,
in inducing the adoption of large and ever increasing num-
bers of resolutions supporting our demands, it will be the
serious organizational task of our party, to consoldiate the
masses thus shown to be in favor of our demands. In the
event of the movement having assimied a particularly trade-
union character, it must be attempted above all to increase
our organizational influence on the trade unions.
To this end our groups in the trade unions must proceed to
well prepared, direct action against the local trade union
leaders, in order to either overcome their influence, or else
to compel them to wage an organized struggle on the basis
of the danands of our party. Wherever factory councils, in-
dustrial committees or similar institutions exist, our groups
must exert influence on the plenary meetings of these indus-
trial committees or factory councils to also decide in favor
of supporting the struggle. If a nmnber of local organiza-
tions have thus been influenced to support the movement for
the bare living interests of the proletariat, under Conmiu-
nist leadership, they must be called together to general con-
ferences, which should also be attended by the special dele-
gates of the factory meetings at which favorable resolutions
were adopted. The new leadership consolidated under Com-
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— 98 —
munist influence in this manner, gains new power by means
of such concentration of the active groups of the organ-
ized workers, and this power must be utilized to give an im-
petus to the leadership of the Socialist Parties and trade
unions or else tp fully unmask it.
In those industrial regions where our party possesses its
best organizations and has obtained the greatest support for
its demands, they must succeed, by means of the organized
'pressure on the local trade unions and industrial council, in
uniting all the evident economic isolated struggles in these
r^ions, ap well as the developing movements of other groups
into one coordinated struggle. This movement must then
draw up certain common elementary demands, entirely apart
from the particular craft interests, and then attempt to
obtain the fulfillment of these demands by utilizing the
united forces of all the organizations in the district. In
such a movement the Communist Party will then prove to
be the leader of the proletarians prepared for the struggle,
whereas the trade union bureaucracy and the Socialist Party
who would oi^se such a united, organized struggle, would
then be exposed in their true colors, not only politically, but
also from a practical organizational point of view.
34) During acute political and economic crises causing,
as they do, new movements and struggles, the Gnnmu-
nist Party should attempt to gain control of the masses. It
may be better to f or^o any specific demands and rather ap-
ped directly to the members of the Socialist Parties and the
Trade Unions, pointing out how distress and oppression
have driven them into the unavoidable fights with their em-
ployers in spite of the attempts of their bureaucratic leaders
to evade a decisive struggle. The organs of the Party, par-
ticularly the daily newspapers, must emphasize, day by day,
that the Communists are ready to take the lead in the im-
pending and actual struggles of the distressed workers, that
their fighing organization is ready to lend a helping band
wherever possible to all the oppressed in the given acute
situation. It must be pointed out daily that without these
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struggles there is no possibiliy of creating tolerable living
conditions for the workers in spite of the efforts of the old
organizations to avoid and to obstruct these struggles. The
Communist factions within the trade unions and industrial
organizations must lay stress continually upon the self-sacri-
ficing readiness of the Communists and make it clear to their
fellow workers that the fight is not to be avoided. The
main task, however, is to unify and consolidate all the
struggles and movements arising out of the situation. The
various nuclei and factions of the industries and crafts which
have been drawn into struggle must not only maintain the
closest ties of organization among themselves, but also to as-
sume, the leadership of all the movements that may break
out, through the district committees as well as through the
the central committees, furnishing promptly such, officials
and responsible workers as will be able to lead a movement
hand in hand with those engaged in the struggle, to broaden
and deepen that struggle, and make it wide-spread. It
is the main duty of the organization everywhere to point out
and emphasize the common character of all the various
struggles, in order to foster the idea of the general solu-
tion of the question by political means if necessary. As the
struggles become more intensified and general in character,
it becomes necessary to create uniform organs for the lead-
ership of the struggles. Wherever the bureaucratic strike
leaders have failed, the Communists must come in at once
and ensure a determined militant leadership. Where the
combination of isolated struggles has been achieved, the
common organization of action must be insisted upon, and it
is here that the Communists must seek to win the leader-
ship. The common organization of action can be achieved,
under capable preliminary organization, by persistent advo-
cacy at the meetings of the factions and industrial councils
as well as at mass meetings of the industries concerned.
When the movement becomes widespread and, owing
.to the onslaughts of the employers' organizations and gov-
ernment interference, assumes a political character, prelimi-
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nary propaganda and organization "v^rk must be started for
the election of Workers' Councils which may become pos-
sible and even necessary.
It is here that all party organs should emphasize the idea
that only by forging their own weapons of struggle can the
working class achieve its real emancipation. In this propa-
ganda not the slightest consideration should be shown to the
trade union bureaucracy or to the old Socialist parties.
35) The Communist Parties which have already grown
strong, and particularly the big mass parties, must be equip-
ped for mass action. All political demonstrations and econ-
omic mass movements, as well as local actions, must always
tend to organize the experiences of these movements in order
to bring about a close union with the wide masses. The ex-
periences gained by all new great movements must be dis-
cussed at broad conferences of the leading officials and re-
sponsible party workers, with the trusted representatives of
the large and middle industries, and in this mariner the net-
work of communications will be constantly increased and
strengthened, and the trusted representatives of the indus-
trieis will become increasingly permeated with the fighting
spirit. The ties of mutual confidence between the leading
officials and responsible party workers, with the shop dele-
gates, are the best guarantee that there will be no prematur
political mass-action, in keeping with the circumstances and
the actual strength of the Party.
Without the closest ties between the Party organizations
and the proletarian masses employed in the big and middle
industries, the Communist Party cannot carry our any big
mass-actions and really revolutionary movements. The un-
timely collapse of the undoubtedly revolutionary upheaval in
Italy last year, which found its strongest expression in the
seizing of factories, was certainly due to a great extent to
the treachery of the trade-unionist bureaucracy and the un-
reliability of the political party leaders, but partly also to the
total lack of intimacies of organization between. the Party
and the industries through politically informed shop dele-
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^ates interested in the welfare of the Party. Also the Eng-
lish coal miners' strike of the present year has undoubtedly
suffered through this lack to an extraordinary degree.
VI. On the Party Press
36) The Communist Press must be developed and im-
proved by the Party with indefatigable energy.
No paper may be recognized as a Communist organ if it
does not submit to the directions of the Party. •
. The Party must pay more attention to having good pa-
pers than to having many of them. Every Communist
Party must have a good, and if possible, a daily central or-
gan.
37) A Communist newspaper must never be a capitalist
undertaking, as are the bourgeois and frequently also the
"socialist" papers. Our paper must be independent of all
the^^oapitalist credit institutions. A skilful organization
of the advertisements, which render possible the existence
of our paper for lawful mass parties, must never lead to
our becoming dependent on the large advertisers. On the
contrary, its unswerving attitude on all proletarian social
questions will create the greater respect for it in all our mass
parties.
Our papers must not serve for the satisfaction of the de-
sire for sensation or as a pastime for the general public.
They must not yield to the criticism of the petty bourgeois
writers or journalist virtuosos in the striving to become "re-
spectable."
38) The Communist paper must in the first place take
care of the interests of the oppressed and fighting workers.
It must be our best agitator and the leading propagator of the
proletarian revolution.
• It will be the object of our paper to collect all the valuable
experience from the activity of the party members and to
demonstrate the same to our comrades as a guide for the con-
tinued revision and improvement of 'Communist working
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methods. In this way it will be the best organizer of our
revolutionary work.
It is only this all embracing organization work of the Com-
munist papers and particularly our principal paper, with this
definite object in view, that will be able to establish demo-
cratic centralism and will lead to the efficient distribution of
work in the communist party, thus enabling it to perform its
historic mission.
39) The Communist paper must strive to become a Com-
munist undertaking, i. e., it must be a proletarian fighting
organization, a working community of the revolutionary
workers, of all writers who regularly contribute to the paper,
editors, typesetters, printers and distributers, those who col-
lect local material and discuss the same in the paper, those
who are daily active in propagating it, etc., etc.
A number of practical measures are required to turn the
paper into a real fighting organ and a strong working com-
munity of the communists. ^
A Communist should be in closest connection with his
paper when he has to work and make sacrifices for it. It
is his daily weapon which must be newly hardened and
sharpened every day in order to be fit for use. Heavy mate-
rial and financial sacrifices will continually be required for
the existence of the communist paper. The means for Its
development and inner improvement will constantly have to
be supplied from the ranks of party members, until it will
have reached a position of such firm organization
and such a wide circulation among a legal mass party, that It
will itself become a strong support of the communist move-
ment.
It is not sufficient to be an active canvasser or propagator
for the paper, it is necessary to be, a contributor to It as
well.
Every occurrence of any social or economic interest hapn
pening in the workshop from an accident to a general work-
ers meeting, from the ill treatment of an apprentice to the
financial report of the concern must be immediately reported
to the paper. The Trade Union fraction must communicate
all important decisions and resolutions of its meetings and
secretariats, as well as any characteristic actions of our ene-
mies. Public life in the street and at the meeting will often
give an opportunity to the attentive pary member to exep^ise
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social criticism on details, which published in our paper
will demonstrate even to indifferent readers how closely we
follow the daily needs of life.
Such communications from the life of workers and work-
ing organizations must be handled by the board of editors
with particular care and attention. They may be used as
short notices that will help to convey the feeling of an inti-
mate communion existing between our paper and the work-
ers' lives; or they may be used as practical examples from
the daily life of workers that help to explain the doctrine
of communism. The latter is the shortest way to bring the
wide masses of the workers vitally nearer to the great ideas
of Communism. Wherever possible, the board of editors
should have fixed hours at a convenient time of the day,
when they should be ready to see any worker coming to
them apd listen to his wishes or complaints on the troubles
of life, which they ought to note and use for the enliven-
ment of the paper.
Under the capitalist system it will of course be impossible
for our papers to become a perfect communist workers'
community. However, even under most difficult conditions
it might be possible to obtain a certain success in- the organi-
zation of such a revolutionary paper. This has been proved
by the "Pravda" of our Russian comrades during the per-
iod of 1912 to 1913. It actually represented a permanent
and active organization of the conscious revolutionary work-
ers of the most important Russian centres. The comrades
used their collective forces for editing, publishing and dis-
tributing the paper, many of them doing that alongside with
their other work and sparing the money required from their
earnings.
The newspaper in its turn furnished them with the best
things they desired, with what they needed for the mo-
ment and what they can still use to-day in their work and
their struggle. Such a newspaper could really and truly be
called by the Party members and by many another revolu-
tionary worker "Our Newspaper."
40) The proper element for the militant communist press
is direct participation in the campaigns conducted by the
Party. If the activity of the Party at a given time happens
to be concentrated upon a definite campaign it is the duty
t)f the Party-organ to place all its departments, not the edi-
torial pages alone, at the service of this particular cam-
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paign. The editorial board must draw materials from all
sources to feed this campaign, which must be incorporated
throughout the paper both in substance and in form.
41) The matter of canvassing subscriptions for "Our
Newspaper" must be made into a system. The first thing is
to make use of every occasion for stirring up the workers
and of every situation in which the political and social con-
sciousness of the worker has been aroused by some special
occurrence. Thus, following each big strike movement or
lockout, during which the paper openly and energetically de-
fended the interests of the workers, a canvassing activity
should be organized and be carried on among the partici-
pants. Subscription lists and subscription orders for the pa-
per should be distributed not only in the industries where
communists are engaged and among the trade union fractions
of those industries that had taken part in the strike, but
also, whenever possible, subscription orders should be dis-
tributed from house to house by special groups of workers
doing propaganda for the paper.
Likewise, following each election campaign that aroused
the workers, special groups appointed for the purpose should
visit the homes of the workers, carrying on systematic prop-
aganda for the workers' newspaper.
At times of latent political or economic crises manifesting
themselves^ in the rise of prices, unemployment, and other
hardships affecting great numfiers of workers, all possible
efforts should be exerted to win over the professionally or-
ganized workers of the various industries and organize them
into working groups for carrying on systematic house-to-
house propaganda for the newspaper. Experience has
shown that the most appropriate time for canvassing work
is the last week of each month. Any local group that would
allow even one of these last weeks of the month to pass by
without making use of it for propaganda work for the
newspaper will be committing a grave omission with regard
to the spread of the Communist movement. The working
group conducting propaganda for the newspaper must not
leave out any public meeting or any demonstration without
being there at the opening, during the intervals, and at the
close with their subscription lists for the paper. The same
duties are imposed upon every trade union faction at each
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separate meeting of the union as well as upon the group and
factions at shop meetings.
42) Every Party member must constantly defend our
paper against all its opponents and carry on an energetic cam-
paign against the capitalist press. He must expose and
brandmark the venality, the falsehood, the suppression of in-
formation and all the double dealings of this press.
The social-democratic and independent press must be over-
come by constant aggressive criticism, without falling into
petty factional polemising, but by persistent unmasking of
thei treacherous attitude in veiling the most flagrant class-
conflicts day by day. The trade union and other factions
must seek by organized means to win away the members
of trade unions and other workers' orgaanizations from the
misleading and crippling influence of these social-democratic
papers. Also the canvassing and house-to-house campaign
for our press, notably among industrial workers, must be
judiciously directed against the social-democratic press.
VII. On the Structure of the Party Organism
43) The Party organization spreading out and fortifying
itself must not be organized upon a scheme of mere geo-
graphical divisions, but in accordance with the real economic,
political and transport conditions of the given district. The
centre of gravity is to be placed in the main cities, and the
centres of large industries.
In the building up of a new Party there usually manifests
itself a tendency to have the Party organization spread out
at once all over the country. Thus disregarding the fact that
the number of workers at the disposal of the Party is very
limited, those few workers are being scattered in all direc-
tions. This weakens the recruiting ability and the growth of
the Party. In such cases we witness an extensive system
of Party offices spring up, but the Party itself does not sue-
eed in gaining foot-hold even in the most important indus-
trial cities.
44) In order to get the Party activity centralized to the
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highest possible degree it is not advisable to have the Party
leadership divided into a hierarchy with a number of rungs
subordinated to one another. The thing to be aimed at is
that every large city forming an economic, political or trans-
portation center should spread out and form a net of or-
ganizations within a wide area of the surroundings of the
given locality and the economic political districts adjoining
it. The Party Committee of this large center should form
the head of the general body of the Party and conduct the
organizational activity of the district directing its policy in
close connection with the membership of the locality.
The organizers of such a district elected by the district
conference and confirmed by the Central Committee of the
Party are obliged to take active part in the Party life of the
local organizations. The Party Committee of the district
must be constantly reinforced by members from among the
Party workers of the place, so that there should be close re-
lationship between the Committee and the large masses of
the district. As the organization keeps developing, efforts
should be made to the effect that the leading Committee of
the district should at the same time be the leading political
body of the place. Thus, the Party Committee of the dist-
trict together with the Central Committee should play the
part of the real leading organ in the general Party organi-
zation.
45) The boundary lines of a party district are not natu-
r?illy limited by the area of the place. The determining fac-
tor should be that the district Committee be in a position to
direct the activities of all the local organizations within the
district in a uniform manner. As soon as this becomes im-
possible the district must be divided and new Party districts
formed.
It is also necessary in the larger countries to have certain
intermediate organizations serving as connecting links be-
tween the Central Committees and the various district Com-
mittees, and also the various district Committees with the
locals. Under certain conditions it may be advisable to eiye
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to some of these intermediary organiaztionSi as for ettidple,
an organization in a large city with a strong membership, a
leading part, but as a^general rule this should be avoided
as leading to decentralization.
The larger intermediary organizations are formed out of
local Party organizations: of country groups or of small
cities and of districts of the various parts of a large city.
The Party as a whole is to be under the guidance of the
Communist International. The instructions and resolutions
of the Executive of the International on methods affecting
the affiliated Parties are to be directly firstly, either to their
Central Committee of the Party or (2) through this Commit-
tee to some special Committee or (3) to the members of the
Party at large.
The instructions and resolutions of the international are
binding upon the Party, and, naturally, also upon every
Party member.
46) The large units of the Party organization (districts)
are formed from the local bodies of the Party; namely,
from the "local groups" in the villages and small towns, and
from the "districts" or "quarters" of the various sections
of the larger towns.
Any local Party organization which has grown to such an
extent that it can no longer legally hold proper general meet-
ings of its members, must be subdivided.
The members of the local Party organization are to be
assigned to the various working groups for the purpose of
daily Party activtiy. The larger organizations mav find it /
of greater value to unite tre working groups into various
collective groups. Each collective group should as a rule be
constituted of members who are in constant contact with
each other at their work-shops or in their daily associations.
The duties of the collective group consist in the assignment
of general Party work to the various working groups, the
receipt of reports from the /eaders of^such groups, the
education of '•JWididate members in their midst, etc.
47) The Central Committee of the Party is elected at a
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Party Congress and is responsible before it. The Central
Committee selects out of its own midst a smaller body con-
sisting of two sub-committees for political and organiza-
tional activity. Both these sub-committees are responsible
for the political and current work of the Party. These sub-
committees or Bureaus arrange for regular joint sessions of
the Central Committee of the Party where decisions of latet
moment are to be passed. In order to study the general
and political situation and to gain a clear idea of the state
of affairs in the Party it is necessary to have various locali-
ties represented on the Central Committee whenever decis-
ions are to be passed affecting the life of the entire Party.
For the same reason differences of opinion regarding tactics
should not be suppressed by the Central Committee if they
are of a serious nature. On the contrary, these opinions
should get representation upon the Central Committee. But
the Smaller Bureau should be conducted along uniform lines,
and in order to carry its own authority as well as upon a con-
siderable majority of the Central Committee.
Carried on such a basis the Central Committee of the
Party, especially in case of legal mass parties will be able
in the shortest possible time to form a firm foundation foi
a discipline requiring the unconditional confidence of the
Party membership and at the same time manifesting the
vacillations and deviations that make their appearance among
the responsible workers which are to be recognized and done
away with. Such abnormalities in the Party may be re-
moved before reaching the stage where they should have to
be brought up before a Party Congress for decision.
48) Every leading Party Committee must have its work
among its members in order to achieve efficiency in the vari-
ous branches of work. This may necessitate the formation
of various special* committees as for example committees
for propaganda, for editorial work, for the trade union cam-
paign, for communication, etc. Every special committee .is
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subordinated either to the Central Committee or to the Dis-
trict Committee. - .
The control over the activity as well as over the composi-
tion of all committees should he in the hands of the given
District Committee and in the last instance in the hand of the
Party's Central Committee. All the members attached to
the Party for particular party work are directly responsible
before the Party Committee. It may become advisable from
time to time to change the occupations and the office of
those people attached for various Party work such as editors,
organizers, propagandists, etc., provided that this does not
interfere too much with the Party work. The editors and
propagandists must participate in the regular Party work in
one of the Party groups.
49) The Central Committee of the Party, as also of the
Communist International, is empowered at any time to de-
mand complete reports from all Communist organizations,
from their organs and from individual members. The rep-
resentatives of the Centarl Committee and comrades author-
ized by it are to be admitted to all meetigns and sessions with
a deciding voice. The Central . Committee of the Party
must always have at its disposal pleni-potentiaries (Ccmimis-
sars) to instruct and inform the leading organs of the vari-
ous districts and regions not only by means of their circulars
and letters, but also by direct, verbal and responsible agencies
on questions of politics and organization. Every organiza-
tion and every branch of the party, as well as every indi-
vidual member, has the right of communicating his respect-
ive wishes, suggestions, remarks or complaints directly to
the Central Committee of the Party, or of the International,
at any time.
50) The instructions and the decisions of the leading
Part/ organs are obligatory for the subordinate organiza-
tions and for the individual members. The responsibility
of the leading organs and the duty to prevent either de-
linquency or abuse of their leading position, can only partly
be detetmined in a formal manner. The less their formal
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rttponsibility (as for instance, in iU^al Parties), the greater
the obligation upon them to study the opinion of the Party
members, to obtain r^[ular and solid information, and to
form their own decisions only after mature and thorough
deliberation.
51) The Party members are obliged to act always as disci-
plined members of a militant organization in all their public
actions. Should differences of opinion occur as to the proper
mode of action, this should be determined as far as possible
by previous discussion inside the Party organization, and the
action should be according to the decision thus arrived at.
Even if the decision of the organization or of the Party
Committee should appear faulty in the opinion of the rest
of the members, these comrades in all their public activities
must never lose sight of the fact, that it is the worst form
of undisciplined conduct and the gravest military error, to
hinder or to break entirely the unity of the common front.
It is the supreme duty of every Party member to defend
the Communist Party and above all the Communist Inter-
national, against all the enemies of Communism. He who
forgets and, on the contrary, publicly assails the Party or
the Communist International, is a bad Communist.
52) The statutes of the Party must be drawn in such
a manner, as not to become a hindrance, but rather a helping
force to the leading Party organs in the constant develop-
ment of the general Party organization and in the continuous
improvement of Party activity. The decisions of the CcMn-
munist International must be promptly carried out by the
affiliated Parties, even in the case when corresponding altera-
tions in existing statutes and Party decisions can be adopted
only at a later date.
VIII. Legal and Illegal Activity
53) The Party must be so organized, that it shall always
be in a position to adapt itsdf quickly to all the changes
that may occur in the conditions of the struggle. The
Communist Party must develop into a militant organizaticm t
^. ^. —in-
capable of avoiding a fight in the open against overwhelming
forces of the enemy, concentrated upon a given point; but
on the other hand, the very concentration of the enemy must
be so utilized as to attack him in a spot where he least
suspects it. It would be the greatest mistake for the Party
organization to ^take everything upon a rebellion and street
fighting, or only upon condition of severe oppression. Com-
munists must perfect their preliminary revolutionary work
in every situation on a basis of preparedness, f(5r it is fre-
quently next to impossible to foresee the changeable wave
of stormy and calm periods; and even in cases where it
might be possible, this foresight cannot, in many cases, be
made use of for reorganization, because the change as a
rule comes quickly, and frequently quite suddenly.
54) The legal Communist Parties of the capitalist coun-
tries usually fail to grasp the importance of the task before
the Party to be properly prepared for the armed struggle,
or for the illegal fight in general. Communist organizations
often commit the error of depending on a permanent legal
basis for their existence, and of conducting their work ac-
cording to the needs of the legal tasks.
On the other hand, illegal parties often fail to make use
of all the possibilities of legal activity towards the building
up of a party organization which would have constant inter-
course with the revolutionary masses. Underground organi-
zations which Ignore these vital truths run the risk of be-
coming merely groups of conspirators, wasting their labors
in futile Sysiphus tasks.
Both those tendencies are erroneous. Every legal com-
munist organization must know how to insure for itself
complete preparedness for an underground existence, and
above all for revolutionary outbreaks. Every illegal com-
munist organization must, on the other hand, make the
fullest use of the possibilities offered by the legal labor move-
ment, in order to become, by means of intensive party activ-
ity, the organizer and real leader of the great revolutionary
masses.
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55) Both among legal and underground Party circles
there is a tendency for the illegal Communist organization
activity to evolve into the establishment and maintenance of
a purely military organization isolated from the rest of the
Party organization and activity. This is absolutely erron-
eous. On the contrary, during! the pre-revolutionary period
the formation of our militant organizations must be mainly
accomplished through the general work of the Communist
Party. Tht entire Party must be developed into a militant
organization for the Revolution.
Isolated revolutionary-military organizations, prematurely
created in the pre-revolutionary periods, are apt to show
tendencies towards dissolution, because of the lack of direct
and useful party work.
56) It is of course imperative for an illegal party to pro-
tect its members and party organs from being found out by
the authorities, and to avoid every possibility of facilitating
such discovery by registration, careless collecting of contri-
butions and injudicious distribution of revolutionary ma-
terial. For these reasons, it cannot use frank organizational
methods to the same extent as a legal party. It can, never-
theless, through practice, acquire more and more proficiency
in this matter. ^ '• l^"^-
On the other hand, a legal mass party must be fully pre-
pared for ni^al work and periods of struggle. It must
never relax its preparations for any eventualities (viz., it
must have safe hiding places for duplicates of members'
files; must, in most cases, destroy correspondence, put im-
portant documents into safe keeping and must provide con-
spirative training for its messengers, etc).
It is often assumed in the circles of the l^;al, as well as
of the illegal parties, that the illegal organization must be
in the nature of a rather exclusive, entirely military institu-
tion, occupying, within the party a position of splendid
isolation. This assumption is quite erroneous. The forma-
tion of our fighting organization in the pre-revduttonary
period must depend principally on the general commonist
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party work. The entire party must be made into a fighting
organization for the revolution.
57) Therefore, our general party work must be appor-
tioned in a manner which would ensure, even in the pre-
revolutionary period, the foundation and consolidation of a
fighting organization commensurate with the needs of the
revolution. It is of the greatest importance that the direct-
ing body of the Communist Party should be guided in its
entire activity by the revolutionary requirements, and that it
should endeavor as far as possible, to gain a clear idea of
what these arei likely to be. This is, naturally, not an easy
matter, but that should not be a reason for leaving out of
consideration this very important point of communist orga-
nizational leadership.
Even the best organized party would be faced with very
difficult and complicated tasks, if it had to undergo great
functional changes in a period of open revolutionary up-
rising. It is quite possible that our political Party will be
called upon to mobilize in a few days its forces for the
revolutionary struggle. Probably, it will have to mobilize,
in addition to the party forces, their reserves, the sympa-
thizing organizations, viz., the unorganized revolutionary
masses. The formation of a regular red army is, as yet,
oiit of the question. We must conquer without a previously
organized army- — through the masses under the leadership
of the party. For this reason, even the most heroic effort
would not succeed should our party not be well prepared
and organized for such an eventuality.
58) One has probably observed that the revolutionary
central directive bodies have proved unable to cope with
revolutionary situations. The proletariat has generally been
able to achieve great revolutionary organization as far as
minor tasks are concerned, but there has nearly always been
disorder, confusion and chaos at its headquarters. Some-
time there has been a lack of even the most elementary
apportioning of work. The intelligence department is often
so badly organized that it does more harm than good. There
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is no reliance on postal and other communications. All secret
postal and transport arrangements, secret quarters and
printing works are generally at the mercy of lucky or un-
lucky circumstances, and afford fine opportunities for the
"agents provocateurs" of the. enemy forces.
These defects cannot be remedied unless the party orga-
nizes a special branch in its administration for this particular
work. The military intelligence service requires practice
and special training and knowledge. The same may be said
of the secret service work directed against the political police.
It is only through long practice that a satisfactory secret
service department can be created. For all this specialized
revolutionary work, every legal communist party must make
secret preparations, no matter how small. In most* cases
such a secret apparatus may be created by means of per-
fectly legal activity.
Foi^ instance, it is quite possible to establish a secret postal
and transport communications by a code system through the
judicially arranged distribution of legal leaflets, and through
correspondence in the Press.
59) The Communist Organizer must look upon every
member of the party and every revolutionary worker as a
prospective soldier in the future revolutionary army. For
this reason he must allot him a place in the party which
will fit him for his future role. His present activity must
take the form of useful service, necessary for present party
work, and not mere drilling which the practical worker of
today rejects. One must also not forget that this kind of
activity is for every Communist the best preparation for
the exigencies of the final struggle.
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THE ORGANIZATION OP THE
COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL
{Adopted at the 24th Session July 12th, 1921.)
The Executive Committee of the Communist International
must be so organized that it is able to take a stand upon all
questions connected with the activities of the proletariat.
In addition to the general appeals hitherto issued by the
Executive upon critical questions of this kind it is necessary
also, that» on international questiotfS under dispute, the
Executive should try to find the best method of organizing
and standardizing the propaganda throughout the various
sections. The Communist International must actually be-
come the International of action, and lead the actual day-
to-day fight of the revolutionary proletariat of all countries.
The following preliminary conditions are indispensable :
1) The Parties affiliated to the Communist International
must do their utmost to keep in the closest touch with the
Executive; they must not only appoint the best representa-
tives of their country to the Executive, but must also keep
the Executive constantly supplied with the best information,
so that the Executive will be in a position to take a stand
on any political problem that may arise, on the basis of real
documents and exhaustive materials. In order that full use
may be made of such material, the Executive must organize
and subdivide its special activities. An international insti-
tute of political economy and statistics should be attached
to the Executive for the benefit of the labor movement and
communism.
2) The affiliated Parties must learn to regard themselves
as sections of one Universal International Party. R^^Iar
exchange of information must therefore be arranged be-
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— 116 —
tween the parties, particularly if they happen to be in neigh-
boring States, for they are then equally interested in the
political conflicts which* arise out of the dash of the econ-
omic interests of capitalism.
At the present time community of action can best be
achieved by mutual participation in important conferences,
and by reciprocal exchange of representatives. This ex-
change of representatives must be made an absolutely
obligatory condition for all the Sections that are capable of
rendering substantial services to the cause.
3) In order to promote this welding together of all the
National Sections into a single International Party the
Executive should publish a newspaper in all the important
languages of Western Europe. This paper would be able
to direct the ever increasing growth of communist ideas; and
further by supplying reliable and uniform information would
serve as a basis for active work in the various Sections.
4) By sending plenipotentiary members of the Executive
to Western Europe and Ameriga, the Executive can support
actively, the aspirations of the proletariat of all coimtries
towards a rpal International based on the common daily
struggle. These representatives must keep the Executive
informed about the particular conditions under which the
Communist Parties of the various capitalist and colonial
countries have to work, and they must also see to it that
these Parties keep in the closest possible touch with the ^
Executive, as well as with each other, in order to increase
their fighting efficiency. The Executive, as well as the
affiliated parties, must see to it, that, by means of trusted
personal messengers and written correspondence, communi-
cation between the Executive of the individual Communist
Parties is regolsiv and frequent, and is carried out with
g^reater safety and speed than hitherto. In this way it
should be possible at any time, to take a unanimous stand
upon any important political questions which may arise.
5) In order to be able to cope with this extraordinarily
intensified activity, the Executive must be considerably aug-
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— 117 —
mented. Those sections to which 40 votes had been allotted
by the Congress, as well as the Executives of the Young
Communist International, have 2 votes each in the Execu-
tive; the sections with 30 and 20 votes at the Congress
have 1 vote each. The Russian Communist Party is to have
5 votes as before. The representatives of the remaining
sections are to have consultative votes. The Congress elects
the President and instructs the Executive to appoint three
leading secretaries who, if possible, should be chosen from
different Parties.
These secretaries shall be assisted in their work by mem-
bers of the Executive, divided into various Sections, whose
duty it shall be to assist in the transaction of the current
work of the Executive and of the Secretariat, either through
their national departments, or by. taking upon themselves
the task of reporting upon certain definite questions. The
members of the Small Bureau shall be chosen by the
Executive.
6) The seat of the Executive Committee is Russia, the
first proletarian State. But the Executive shall try to ex-
tend its influence by organizing conferences wherever pos-
sible outside of Russia, and, further, it shall try to bring
about the centralization of the International through its
organization and political leadership.
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THE MARCH ACTION AND THE SITUA-
TION IN THE UNITED COMMUNIST
PARTY OF GERMANY
{Adopted at the 2lst Session, July 9th, 1921)
The Third Congress regards with satisfaction the fact
that all the important resolutions, and especially the section
of the resolution on tactics, dealing with the March action,
have been unanimously adopted and that the representatives
of the German opposition themselves in their proposals on
the March action have stood upon the basis of the views
adopted by the Congress. The Congress recognizes this
fact as a guarantee that the united and harmonized work
within the V. K. P. D. on the basis of the resolutions of
the Third Congress is not only desirable, but entirely real-
izable. The Congress recognizes every further splitting of
forces within the V. K. P. D., every separatist tendency —
not to say anything about a split — ^as the greatest menace for
the entire movement.
The Congress expects of the Central Committee and the
majority of the V. K. P. D. the most tolerant treatment
of the leaders of the opposition, provided they will loyally
carry out the decisions of the Third Congress, and it also
urges the Central Committee to take all necessary measures
to assure the complete unification of the ranks of the Party.
The Congress demands of the former opposition the imme-
diate disbanding of all factional organizations, the complete
and absolute subordination of the parliamentary fraction to
the Central Committee; the complete subordination of the
press to the direction of the various party organs; the
immediate cessation of any collaboration with those who
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have been expelled from the Party and the Communist Inter-
national (in their papers, etc.).
The Congress calls upon the Executive to carefully watch
the further development of the German movement and in
case of the least violation of discipline to take the most
drastic measures.
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THESIS ON THE TACTICS OP THE RUS-
SIAN COMMUNIST PARTY
(Adopted at the \7th Session, July 5th, 1921)
1. The International Situation of the Russian
Socialist Federal Soviet Republic
The International position of the R. S. F. S. R. at the
present time is characterized by a kind of equilibrium which
is, however, extremely unstable and is creating a peculiar
situation in world politics.
The peculiarity consists in the following: On the one
hand the world bpurgeoisie is full of hatred and animosity
towards Soviet Russia and is ready to pounce upon her at
any moment in order to strangle her. On the other hand,
all the attempts at military intervention, on which the bour-
geoisie has spent hundreds of millions of francs ended in
failure, in spite of the fact that the Soviet power at that
time was much weaker than it is today and the Russian
landlord and capitalist had their armies on the territory of
the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic. The oppo-
sition to the war against Soviet Russia has become extremely
strong in all capitalist countries. This opposition has spread
throughout the masses of the petty bourgeois democracy of
the capitalist countries and has been fostering the revolu-
tionary movement of the proletariat. The conflict of inter-
ests between the various imperialist countries has become
acute and is growing more and more acute every day. The
revolutionary movement among the hundreds of millions of
the oppressed nations of the East is greatly gaining in inten-
sity. As a result of all this, International imperialism has
proved incapable of strangling Soviet Russia in spite of
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— 121 —
superior force. It is therefore compelled to enter into com-
mercial relations with Russia and to recognize her either
fully or partially.
As a result of this state of things we have an equilibrium,
which though extremely precarious and unstable, neverthe-
less enables the Socialist Republic to maintain its existence
though of course not for a great length of time — ^within
capitalist surroundings.
2. Correlation on an International Scale
Between the Class Forces
With such a state of affairs as a basis, the correlation on
an international scale between the class forces appears as
follows: the international bourgeoisie deprived of the pos-
sibility of carrying on an open war against Soviet Russia,
is now kept in a state of abeyance. It is on the alert for
the moment when conditions will be such as to permit a
resumption of the war.
The proletariat of the advanced countries has already
everywhere called out its vanguard, and is marching undevi-
atingly forward to the winning over of the majority of the
proletariat in every country, breaking down the influence of
the old trade union bureaucracy and upppr stratum of the
working class in America and Europe, demoralized, as they
are, by imperialist privileges.
The petty bourgeois democracy of the capitalist countries
represented as its advanced section by the Second and the
Two aifid Half Internationals is at the present moment the
chief support of capitalism in so far as the majority or, at
least a considerable part of the industrial and commercial
workers and employers remain under its influence. The
latter are in fear of the advent of the revolution; they fear
the loss of their petty bourgeois prosperity created by
imperialist privileges. But the growing economic crisis is
aggravating the conditions oiE the wide masses everywhere.
This together with the inevitability of imperialist wars
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(which is becoming more manifest every day) is shattering
this mainstay of capitalism.
The working masses of colonial and semi-colonial countries
constituting as they do a vast majority of the earth's popu-
lation, have already, since the beginning of th^ twentieth
century awakened to political life; especially as a result of
the revolutions in Russia, Turkey, Persia and China. . The
imperialist war of 1914-1918 and the Soviet Power in
Russia are definitely transforming these masses into an active
factor of world policy and revolutionary destruction of
imperialism, although the stubborn intellectual petty bour-
geoisie of Europe and America, including the leaders of the
Second and Two and Half Internationals will not see this
yet. British India is at the head of these countries and the
revolution is developing there the more rapidly in propor-
tion as the industrial and railway proletariat is becoming,
on the one hand, of greater importance and on the other
hand, the terror of the English is growing more brutal,
assuming the forms of mass murder (Amritzar), public
scourgings, etc.
S. Correlation of Class Forces in Russia
The internal political situation of Soviet Russia is such
that we have here for the first time in history only two-
classes existing side by side, namely : the proletariat brought
up for a number of decades on a young but modern large
machine production and a class of peasant small holders con-
stituting a vast majority, of the population.
The large landowners and capitalists have not disap^ieared
in Russia. They have only been subjected to complete ex-
propriation. They have been completely crushed politically
as a class and the remnants of this class are dissolved among
the state employees of the Soviet Power. They have pre-
served their class organization abroad as emigrants, number-
ing probably from one and a half to two millions. They
have over half a hundred of daily papers of all the bour-
geois and "socialist," that is to say, petty bourgeois parties,
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.— 123 —
some remnants of an army and numerous connections among
the international bourgeoisie. This emigrant organization
is working with all its might and main for the annihilation
of the Soviet Power and the re-establishment of capitalism
in Russia.
4. The Proletariat and the Peasantry in Russia
Under the; conditions of the actual internal situation in
Russia, the chief duty of the moment for her proletariat, as
the ruling class, is the correct definition and realization of
the measures which are necessary for assuming the leader-
ship over the peasantry, the establishment of a solid union
with it over a long series of gradual stages towards the
transition to a large nationalized machine production in
agriculture. This task is especially difficult in Russia both
in view of the backwardness of our country and its extreme
penury owing to the seven years imperialist and civil wars.
But even besides this peculiarity this task is one of the most
difficult which the capitalist countries will have to face in
socialist construction, with the exception perhaps of England
alone. Even in respect to England one should not forget
that if the class of minor agricultural leaseholders is espe-
cially small in that country, the percentage of workers and
employees living as petty bourgeois is very considerable
owing to the practical wage slavery of millions of people in
the colonies "belonging" to England.
Therefore from the point of view of the development of
the world proletarian revolution as a single process the
meaning and task of the epoch which Russia is passing
through consists practically in respect to the petty bourgeois
masses, in testing and verifying the policy of the proletariat
whihc is holding the state power in its hands.
5. Military Union Between the Proletariat and
the Peasantry of the R. S. F. S. R.
The basis for regular mutual relations between the prole-
tariat and the peasantry in Soviet Russia was created by
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— 124 — .
the epoch of 1917—1921 when the invasion of the capitalists
and landlords supported both by the entire world bourgeoisie
and all the parties of the petty bourgeois democracy (the
social revolutionists and the Mensheviks) created, consoli-
dated, and gave a definite form to the military union be-
tween the proletariat and the peasantry for the defence of
the Soviet Power. Civil war is the most acute form of
class struggle, and the acuter the struggle the more rapidly,
the more palpably does practice itself show to even the more
backward stratifications of the peasantry that only the dicta-
torship of the proletariat can save it; that the social revolu-
tionists and Mensheviks are nothing Jbut the hirelings of the
landlords and capitalists.
But if the military bond between the proletariat and the
peasantry became — ^and it could not but become — ^the primary
form of their solid union, it could not have held together
even for several weeks without a certain economic tie be-
tween these classes. The workers of the state gave the
peasants the land and protection from the landlord exploit-
ers, the peasants gave the workers food in advance up to
the time of the reestablishment of the larger industry and
production.
6. Transition to Regular Economic Relations
Between the Proletariat and the Peasantry
The union between the peasant small-holders and the pro-
letariat may be quite regular and solid from a Socialist point
of view, only when the completely restored transport and
larger industry will enable the proletariat to furnish to the
peasants all the products which are necessary to them and
for the improvement of their farming. Owing to the con-
ditions of extreme penury in the country this could not be
achieved at once. The proportionate requisition was the
most available measure for an insufficiently organized state
to enable it to stand firm in the incredibly difficult war
against the landlords. The bad harvest and lack of fodder
in 1920 aggravated the ruin of the peasants and made it
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unavoidably necessary to pass over to a levy on the farm
products.
A moderate levy on the farm produce will introduce an
immmediate improvement in the conditions of the peasants,
while interesting them at the same time in enlarging the area
of tilled land and improving their farming methods.
The levy on the farm produce is a transition from the
requisition of all the surplus products from the peasant to
a regular socialist exchange of commodities between industry
and agriculture.
7. The Significance and Conditions of the Admission
of Capitalism and Concession by Soviet Power
The levy on farm produce naturally means the liberty of
the peasant to dispose of all surplus remaining to him after
the pa)mient of the levy. In so far as the state will not be ,
able to supply the peasant with the products of the Socialist
factory in exchange for all this surplus, in so far does the
liberty to trade in this surplus inevitably involve the liberty
for the development of capitalism.
Within the established limits, however, this is not danger-
ous for Socialism, so long as the transport and the larger
industry remain in the hands of the proletariat. On the
contrary, the development of capitalism under the control
and regulation of the proletarian state (in other words,
"state" capitalism of this peculiar kind) is advantageous
and necessary in an extremely ruined and backward peasant
smallholder country (naturally only to a certain d^^ee), in
so far as it is capable of immediately improving the state of
peasant agriculture. This refers even to a greater extent
with regard to concessions. Without effecting any de-
nationalization the workers government leases out certain
mines, forests, oil fields, etc., to foreign capitalists, in order
to obtain from them supplementary implements and ma-
chine3, which would enable it to accelerate the restoration
of the larger industry in Soviet Russia.
The payment made to the concessionaires in the form of
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— 126 —
a share in the highly valuable products is undoubtedly a
tribute paid by the workers' government to the world bour-
geoisie. Without in any way seeking to veil this fact we
must understand clearly that it is to our advantage to pay
this tribute in order to accelerate the restoration of our
larger industry and bring about an improvement in the con-
dition of the workers and peasants.
8. Success of Our Food Policy
The food policy of Soviet Russia in 1917-1921 was un-
doubtedly very crude, imperfect and gave rise to many
abuses. Its realization engendered a series of mistakes. But
it was on the whole the only policy possible under the given
conditions, and it accomplished its historic mission : it saved
the proletarian dictatorship in the ruined and backward
country. It is an indisputable fact that it improved gradu-
ally. In the first year (October 1st, 1918 to October 1st,
1919) the State collected 110 million poods of grain, in the
second 220 millions, in the third over 285 millions.
Now, since we have already gained the necessary practical
experience, we hope and plan to collect 400 million poods
(the amount of the levy is 240 million poods). It is impos-
sible for the workers' government to secure a firm foothold
economically unless it is in possession of sufficient stores of
food products ; only in such case will it ensure the slow but
undeviating restoration of large industry and create a normal
financial system.
9. Material Basis of Socialism and the Plan for
the Electrification of Russia
The only material basis of Socialism is in large machine
industry which would lead to the reorganization of agricul-
ture. But one cannot be limited to this general idea. It
must be dealt with more concretely. The larger industry
to be carried on along the lines of modem technique and be
capable of reorganizing agriculture, would imply electrifioic j
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- — 127 —
tion of the whole country. We have had to draw up a
scientific plan for such electrification of the R. S. F. S. R.
and we have accomplished it with the aid of over 200 of the
best scientists* engineers and agricultural experts of Russia.
This work has been completed, published in the shape of a
voluminous work and approved, in general, by the Eighth
All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1920. At
present the convocation of an All-Russian Congress of elec-
tro-technicians has been arranged whcih will be held in
August 1921, and which will examine this work in detail;
the latter will then receive the final confirmation of the State.
The electrification works of the first period are calculated
for ten years, and will require about 370 million working
days. If in 1918 we had eight newly constructed electric
power stations with 4,747 kw., in 1919 this figure was in-
creased to 36 with 1,648 kw., in 1920 to 100 with 8,699 kw.
However humble this beginning is for a vast country,
nevertheless the start has been made and the work is pro-
-gressing ever better and better. After the imperialist wars,
aftr millions of prisoners of war had become acquainted in
Germany with modern advanced technique, after the strenu-
ous but hardening experience of the three years' civil war,
the Russian peasant is not what he was in older times. With
each month he sees ever dearer and more palpably that it is
only the leadership of the proletariat that will be capable of
liberating the mass of peasant small holders from the wage
slavery of capitalism, and lead them to Socialism.
10. The Rule of ''Pure Democracy" and Second and
Two and Half Internationals, the Social Revolu-
tionists and Menshevists as Allies of Capitalism.
The dictatorship of the proletariat does not mean the
cessation of the class struggle, but its continuation in a
new form and with new weapons. As long as the class divi-
sion prevails, as long as the defeated bourgeoisie of any one
country increases its attacks on Socialism tenfold and on
an international scale, so long is the dictatorship indispen-
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sable. A class of small peasant holders cannot but pass
through a series of vacillations in the epoch pf . transition.
The hardships of the transition period* the influence of the
bourgeoisie will inevitably call forth vacillations in these
masses. The proletariat, weakened and partly unclassed»
owing to the destruction of large machine industry which
constitutes its backbone, is confronted with the most dif&cult
historic task of standing firm against the vacillations and
carrying the work of the liberation of labor from the yoke
of capitalism to its successful issue. The political expression
of these vacillations of the petty bourgeoisie is the policy of
the petty bourgeois parties; that is to say, the parties of the
Second and Two and a Half Internationals which in Russia
are represented by the parties of the social revolutionists and
Menshevists. Having at present their headquarters and
papers abroad, these parties are practically working in a
block with the entire bourgeois counter revolution, and are
rendering it good service. The wise leaders of the Russain
liigh bourgeoisie with Miliukov at their head, the leader of
the "Cadet" (Constitutional Democratic) party, clearly, pre-
cisely and frankly apprised this role of the petty bourgeois
democracy; that is the social revolutionists and Mensheviks.
On the occasion of the Cronstadt uprising during which it
appeared that the Menhseviks, the social revolutionists, and
the white guards had joined forces, Miliukov pronounced
himself in favor of the slogan: "Soviets without the Bol-
sheviks." In developing this idea, he wrote : "Make way for
the social revolutionists and Mensheviks" ("Pravda" 1921
quotation from the Paris "Latest News") ; because this
policy leads to the shifting of the power from the Bolshe-
viks. Miliukov, leader of the higher bourgeoisie, quite
correctly estimated the experiences of all the revolutions,
which have proved that the petty bourgeois is incapable of
holding power and serves only as a cover for the dicta-
torship of the bourgeoisie, serves only as a step towards the
absolute power of the bourgeoisie.
The proletarian revolution in Russia has once again con-
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— 129 —
firmed the experience of 1789-94 and 1848-49, and the words
of Friedrich Engels, who wrote in his letter to Bebd, dated
December 11th, 1884: *Ture Democracy may acquire, for
a short time, a temporary importance at the moment of the
revolution, in the role of the last anchor of salvation of the
entire bourgeoisie, even feudal economy. ... At any rate,
both during the crisis and the day after it, our only adver-
sary will be the entire reactionary mass grouped around pure
democracy, and this, I think, must not be lost sight of."
(Published in Russian in the "Communist Labor," No. 360,
June 9th, 1921, in an article by Comrade Adoretsky, "Marx
and Engels on Democraqr"; in German, in the work enti-
tled "Political Legacy" by Friedrich Engels, Beriin, 1920,
No. 12 of the ''International Library of Youth*' page 19
letter from Engels to Bebel, dated December 11th, 1884).
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THE TACTICS OF THE RUSSIAN
COMMUNIST PARTY
(Adopted at the Session of July 5th, 1921)
The Third World Congress of the Communist Interna-
tional observes with admiration the almost four years strug-
gle of the Russian proletariat for the acquistion and mainte-
nence of its political power. The Congress approves un-
animously of the policy of the Russia^i Communist Party,
which has from the very beginning correctly recognized the
threatening dangers in every situation and true to the funda-
mental rules of revolutionary Marxism, always found ways
and means for mastering them, and which now also, after
the provisional conclusion of the open civil war, has, by
means of its policy towards the peasantry, in the questions
of concession and the restoration of production, concentrated
all the forces of the proletariat under the leadership of the
Russian Communist Party until the West European prole-
tariat will come to the assistance of its brothers.
While the World Congress expresses the conviction that
it is only owing to this consecutive and clearsighted policy
of the Russian Communist Party that Soviet Russia is re-
garded as the first and most important citadel of the world
revolution, it stigmatizes the treacherous conduct of the Men-
shevist Parties, which by their campaign in all countries
against Soviet Russia and the policy of the Russian Com-
munist Party are strengthening the struggle of capitalist
reaction against Russia, and endeavoring to retard the social
revolution in the whole world.
The World Congress calls upon the proletariat of all coun-
tries to place itself unanimously on the side of the Russian
workers and peasants and to realize the October revolution
throughout the whole world.
Long live the struggle for' the dictatorship of the pro-
letariat! Long live the World Revolution!
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THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL AND
THE RED INTERNATIONAL OF
TRADE UNIONS
(Struggle Against the Yellow Trade Union International
of Amsterdam)
{Adopted at the 24th Session/July \2th, 1921)
1. The Fallacy of "Neutrality"
The bourgeoisie is holding the working class in subjection,
not only by means of violence but also by the most refined
deception. The school, the church, parliament, art, litera-
ture, the daily press — all of them represent powerful means
of deceiving the working masses, and of imbuing the pro-
letariat with the ideas of the bourgeoisie.
One of the bourgeois ideas, which the ruling classes have
succeeded in inculcating among the working masses, is the
idea of trade union neutrality, that is, the idea of the non-
political and non-party character of the trade-unions.
For the last decades of modern history, and especially
after the /close of the imperialist war, the trade-unions
throughout Europe and in America have become the largest
proletarian organizations, in some countries embracing the
entire working class.
The bourgeoisie is fully aware that the near future of the
capitalist system depends on the extent to which the trade
unions are going to free themselves from bourgeois influ-
ences. Hence, the frantic efforts of the bourgeoisie and
their myrmidons, the social-democrats throughout the world,
to keep the trade unions at any price in the thraldom of
bourgeois social-democratic ideas,
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— 132-^
The bourgeoisie cannot very well invite the trade unions
quite openly to support the bourgeois parties. It is tu'ging
them, therefore, not to support any party, the revduticmary
Communist Party included, but in reality the bourgeoisie
means that the trade-unions must not support the party
advocating Communism.
The doctrine of neutrality (or of the non-political and
non-party character of the trade-unions) is not of recent
growth. For decades this bourgeois idea has been inculcated
in the trade-unions of Great Britain, Germany, America and
other countries by the representatives of the priest-riddep
Christian trade unions, as well as by the leaders of the
bourgeois Hirsch-Duncher trade-unions, the leaders of the
old pacific British trade-unions, the representatives of the
so-called free trade-unions of Germany and by many repre-
sentatives of syndicalism. Legien, Gompers, Jouhaux, Sid-
ney Webb have been preaching neutrality to the trade-unions
for decades. But in reality the trade-unions have never been
and could never be neutral. Not only is neutrality harmful
to the trade-unions, it cannot positivdy be maintain^. In
the struggle between capital and labor no mass organization
of workers can remain neutral. Consequently, it is impos-
sible for the trade-unions to remain neutral in their relations
to the bourgeois parties and to the party of the proletariat.
This the leaders of the bourgedsie know full wdl. But
just as it is imperative for the bourgeoisie that the masses
should believe in tiie after life it is imperative for tfiem that
the trade unions should maintain neirtrality with rq^ard to
politics and witii r^ard to the workmen's Communist P^rty .
For the exploitation of and the mastery over the wor ker s
the bourgeoisie needs not only the priest, the policeman and
the general, but also the trade-union bureaucrats, ibt head-
ers" who preached to the w o r k ers neutrality and non-partici-
pation in political struggles.
The fallacy of the neutrality idea had become more and
more apparent to the advanced proletariat of Europe and
America even before the imperialist war. This fallacy be-
o
— 133 —
came still more apparent as the class contrasts became more
acute. When the imperialist mass-murders b^^an in real
earnest, the old trade-union leaders were obliged to drop the
mask of neutrality and to side quite openly with their*
respective bourgeoisies.
During the imperialist war those social democrats and
trade-unionists who had been preaching neutrality to the
trade-unionists for many years, while driving the workers
into the service of the most dastardly murder policy, un-
blushingly assumed the role of agents for certain political
parties not for the parties of the working class, but for
those of the bourgeoisie.
After the imperialist war these same social-democratic
and trade-imion leaders have again been trying to put on the
mask of trade-union neutrality, etc. Now that the abnormal
war conditions are at an end, these agents of the bourgeoisie
are trying to adapt themselves to the new circtunstances and
want to lure away the workers from the path of revolution
to the only path which is profitable for the bourgeoisie.
Economics and politics are closely connected. This con-
nection becomes especially evident in such epochs as the
present. There is not a single important question of political
life which does not concern not only the labor party, but
also the trade-unions, and vice versa. If the French imper-
ialistic government orders the mobilization of a certain class
for the occupation of the Ruhr basin and for the strangula-
tion of Germany in general, can it be said that this purely
political question does not concern the French trade-unions?
Can a truly revolutionary French trade-unionist remain neu-
tral, and take up a non-political attitude on such a question ?
Or to use another illustration, — ^if there is in England a
purely economic struggle such as the present lockout of the
miners, can the Communist party declare that this does not
concern it, that it is a purely trade-union question? At a
time when the struggle against misery and poverty is the
order of the day for millions of workers, when the requisi-
tioning of bourgeois houses is imperative for the solution of C^ r^r^^]^
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— 134 —
the housing problem of the proletariat, when the practical
experiences of life force the workers to interest themselves
in the question of the arming of the working class, when the
seizure of factories by the workers is taking place in various
countries, can it be asserted that in such a period the trade-
unions must not take part in such a struggle and must remain
neutral, which really means that they must serve the bour-
geoisie?
With all the wealth of nomenclature of the political par-
ties in Europe and America, these parties are to be divided
into three groups with regard to their nature:
1) Parties of the bourgeoisie; 2) Parties of the petty
bourgeoisie (chiefly the social-democrats), and 3) The
party of the proletariat. All trade unions, which proclaim
themselves to be non-party and declare their neutrality with
regard to the above mentioned party groups, are practically
supporting the parties of the petty-bourgeoisie and the
bourgeoisie.
2. Amsterdam a Bulwark of Capitalism
The International Trade Union Association of Amsterdam
represents the organization in which the Second International
and the Second and a Half International meet each other
and join hands. The whole international bourgeoisie looks
upon this organization with assurance and confidence. The
principal idea of the International Trade Union Association
is at present the idea of the neutrality of Trade Unoins. It
is not mere chance that this watchword is used by the bour-
geoisie and their lackeys, the social democrats, as well as the
Right Trade-Unionists to unite the wide masses of workers
in Western Europe and America. While the political 2nd
International that openly took the side of the bourgeoisie
experienced a complete collapse, a certain success may be
noted in regard to the International Trade Union Associa-
tion of Amsterdam that wants to act under cover of the
idea of neutrality.
Under the flag of neutrality the Amsterdam Trade UmMv[^
— 135 —
Association undertakes the execution of the dirtiest and
most difficult commissions of the bourgeoisie : the strangling
of the miners' strike in England (that task was fulfilled by
the well-known Thomas, who is at the same time president
of the Second International and one of the best known lead-
ers of the Amsterdam Yellow Trade Union Association) ;
the decrease of wages, the organized plundering of the Ger-
man workers for the sins of imperialist German bourgeoisie ;
Leipart and Grassmann, Wiesel and Bauer, Robert Schmidt
and J. H. Thomas, Albert Thomas and Jouhaux, Daszinsky
and Zulawsky,^they have all distributed their roles among
themselves : some have exchanged thei^ posts as trade-union
leaders for ministerial posts in the service of bourgeois gov-
ernments or for minor government positions, while others
who are allied to them in body and soul are at the head of
the Amsterdam Trade Union International preaching to the
workers of the trade unions neutrality in political struggles.
At the present moment the Amsterdam International
Trade Union Association represents the chief support of
International Capital. Whoever does not fully understand
the necessity of the fight against the false idea of non-
political and non-party character of the Trade Unions can-
not fight successfully against this capitalist fortress. In
order to decide upon the most efficient fighting methods to
be used against the yellow Amsterdam International, it will
be necessary to clearly and definitely ascertain the mutual
relations between the Communist Party and the trade unions
of each country.
3. The Communist Party and the Trade Unions
The Communist Party is the vanguard of the proletariat,
that clearly recognized the ways and means to be used for
the liberation of the proletariat from the capitalist yoke
and consciously accepted the Communist program.
The trade unions represent mass organizations of the pro-
letariat which develop into organizations uniting all the
workers of a given branch of industry; they include not only^QQal^
— 136 —
the conscious communists but also the medium and back-
ward ranks of the proletariat, who through the lessons
taught by their life's experience are gradually educated to
understand Communism. The part played by the trade asso-
ciations in the period preceding the struggle of the prole-
tariat for the conquest of power, and during the period of
struggle for power is in many respects different frcrni the
part played by them in the period succeeding the conquest
of power. But throughout the different periods the trade
unions represent a wider organization, uniting a greater
mass of people than the party and the relations between the .
party and the unions must be the same as between the centre
and the periphery. Prior to the securing of power the truly
proletarian trade unions have to- organize the workers prin-
cipally on an economic basis to fight for improvements that
can be obtained before capitalism is completely defeated.
Their principal object, however, must be the organization
of the proletarian mass fight against capitalism and for the
proletarian revolution.
During this revolution the truly revolutionary trade unions
conjointly with the party organize the masses for the imme-
diate attack on the forts of capitalism and undertake the
laying of a foundation for social revolution.
After the power has been secured by the proletariat the
trade unions concentrate the greatest part of their activ-
ity to the organization of the economic conditions on a
. Socialist basis.
During all these three phases of the campaign, the trade
union must support the proletarian vanguard, the communist
party, which takes the lead throughout the proletarian fight.
In order to achieve this end, the communists together
with sympahtizing elements must organize Communist frac-
tions within the trade unions, ( which must be conq)letelj
under the control of the Communist Party,
The tactics adopted by the Second Congress of the Com-
munist International in r^[ard to formation of commumst
fractions in every trade union proved to be fully up to tfeR ^Tp
igiizea ^ g
— 137 —
mark during the course of last year and have given good
results in Germany, England, France, Italy and a number of
other countries. The principles of the Communist Inter-
national respecting the participation of communists in the
trade union movement must not be influened by the circum-
stance that considerable nimibers of politically inexperienced
workers, have lately left the free social democratic trade
unions not expecting to have any direct advantage from
the membership in the same (as has lately been the case in
Germany). It is the task of the Communists to explain
to the proletarians, that they will not find salvation in leav-
ing the old trade unions before creating new ones, as this
will only turn the proletariat into a disorganized mob; they
must be told that it is necessary to revolutionize the trade
unions, to expel the spirit of reformism together with the
treacherous reformist leaders, and thus convert the trade
unions into a real support of the revolutionary proletariat.
4. The Tasks of Our Parties
During the next epoch the principal task of all commun-
ists will be to concentrate their energy and perseverance on
winning over to their side the majority of workers in all
labor unions. They must not be discouraged by the present
reactionary tendency of the- labor unions, but take part
actively in the daily struggles of the unions and win them
over to the cause of Communism in spite of all resistance.
The real test of the strength of every Communist Party
is the actual influence it has on the workers in the labor
unions. The party must learn how to influence the Unions
without attempting to keep them in leading strings. Only
the Communist fraction of the union is subject to the con-
trol of the party, not the labor union as a whole. If the Qmi-
munist fractions persevere, if their activity is devoted and
intelligent, the party will reach a position where its advice
will be accepted gladly and readily by the unions.
In France the labor unions are now passing tiirough a
wholesome period of fermentation. The working class 's^qOqIc
— 138 —
regaining strength after the crisis in the workers' movement
and is learning to recognize and punish the past treachery
of the reformist Socialist and trade-unionists. Many of the
revolutionary trade-unionists of France are still unwilling
to take part in the political fight and are prejudiced against
the idea of a political proletarian party. They still hold to
the idea of neutrality as expressed in the well-known Charte
d' Amiens of 1906. The point of view of this fraction of the
revolutionary trade-unionists may be regarded as a source
of great danger for the movement. If this fraction should
gain control of the majority in the unions, it would not
know what to do with this majority. It would be helpless
against the agents of capitalism, the Jouhaux and the
Dumoulins.
'The revolutionary trade-unionists of France will remain
without definite lines of demarcation as long as the Com-
munist party itself lacks such lines. The Communist Party
of France must strive to work in friendly cooperation with
the best elements of revolutionary trade-unionism. It is,
however, essential that the party should rely solely upon
its own elements. Sections should be formed wherever three
Communists are to be found. The party must at once under-
take a campaign against neutrality. It must point out in a
friendly but decided manner the defects in the position of
revolutionary trade-unionism. This is the only possible way
to revolutionize the trade union movement in, France and
to establish close cooperation between the party and the
trade-union movement.
In Italy the situation is very peculiar. The majority of
the trade-union members are revolutionary, but the leader-
ship of the Confederation del Lavoro is in the hands of re-
formists and centrists whose sympathies are with Amster-
dam. The first task of the Italian Communists will be to
organize a persistent daily struggle in every section in the
trade unions ; endeavor to systematically and patiently expose
the treachery and indecision of the leaders and to wrest the
trade-unions from their control.
In n^rd to the rcvrfu- t
Digitized by VjOOQIC
— 139 —
tionafy trade-union elements of Italy, the Italian Commun-
ists will have to adopt the same measures as the Communists
in France.
In Spain we have a strong revolutionary trade-union
movement, which still lacks a clearly defined final purpose,
and a young and relatively weak C(nnmunist Party. In
vipw of the existing conditions, the party must do everything
possible to secure a firm foothold in the Trade Unions. It
must support the unions in word and deed, and exercise a
clarifying influence on the whole trade-union movement. It
must likewise establish friendly relations with the unions
and make every effort to organize the whole struggle in
common.
Important developments are taking place in the British
trade-union movement which is rapidly becoming more and
more revolutionary. The mass movement is growing, and
the influence of the old trade-union leaders is on the wane.
The Party must do its utmost to establish itself firmly in the
great Trade Unions (miners, ets.). Every member of the
Party .must work actively in some trade-union, and must
endeavor to make Communism popular through active and
persevering work. Every effort must be made to get into
closer contact with the masses.
The same process is taking place in America, although at
a slower rate. Communists must on no account leave the
ranks of the reactionary Federation of Labor. On the con-
trary, they should get into the old trade unions in order to
revolutionize them. Co-operation with the best sections of
the I. W. W. is imperative ; this does not, however, preclude
an educational campaign against the prejudices of the
I. W. W.
In Japan a great trade-union movement has rapidly come
into being, but it lacks an enlightened leadership. The Com-
munistic elements of Japan must support this movement and
use every effort to direct it into Marxian channels.
In Czecho-Slovakia, our party is backed by the majority
of the working class, but the trade-union movement is, to 4oOQle
— 140 —
great extent, still in the hands of the social patriots and
centrists and is therefore divided by nationalities. This is
because the party itself has lacked organization and clearly
defined principles among the revolutionary-minded trade-
unionists. The party must make a great effort to put an
end to these conditions, and to get control of the trade-
unions. For this purpose the creation of nuclei and of a
united Communist Central trade-union organization to in-
clude all nationalities is absolutely indispensable. The utmost
efforts must be applied in the direction of uniting the various
divided national associations.
In Austria and Belgiimi the social patriots have with great
cunning succeeded in getting control of the trade-union
movement. The trade-union movement is the chief field for
revolutionary action in these countries. That is why it
should have received more attention from the Communist
Parties.
In Norway the party which has the majority of workers
behind it, must become more influential over the trade-union
movement.
In Sweden the Party has not only to contend with reform-
ism, but also with petty bourgeois tendencies in the Socialist
movement.
In Germany the Party is gradually getting control of the
trade-union movement. On no account should concessions
be made to the partisans of the "Leave the Trade-Unions"
movement.
Thiswould play into the hands of the social-patriots. All
attempts to expel Communists from the unions must be met
by constant and energetic resistance if we are to win over
to Communism the majority of the organized workers.
5. Relations of the Communist International to
the Red Trade-Union International
These considerations will define the mutual relations to
be established between the Communist International on th<
gitized by
Coogle
one hand, and the Red International of Trade Unions, on
the other.
The task of the Communist International is not only to
direct the political struggle of the proletariat in the narrow
sense of the word, but to' guide its entire struggle for libera-
tion, whatever form it may acquire. The Communist Inter-
national must be not only the arithmetical total of the central
organizations of the Communist Parties of different coun-
tries. The Communist International must stimulate and
-.oordinate the work throughout class struggle of all prole-
tarian organizations, the purely political organizations, trade
unions, the Soviet and cultural organizations, etc.
Quite unlike the Yellow International, the Red Interna-
tional of Trade Unions will in no wise adopt the point of
view of non-partyism or neutrality. Any organization which
would wish to remain neutral with regard to the Second,
the "Two and a Half," and the Third International, would
unavoidably become a pawn in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
The program of action of the International Coundl of the
Red Trade Unions which the Communist International will
lay before the First Congress of Red Trade Unions, will be
defended in reality by the Communist Parties alone and
bv the Communist International. On these grounds alone
if we are to succeed in carrying out the new revolutionary
tasks of the trade unions, the red trade unions will have to
work hand in hand and in close contact with the Communist
Party, and the Red International of Trade Unions will have
to brin^ each step of its work in agreement with the work
of the Communist International.
The prejudices of neutrality, of "independence,** of non-
narty and non-political tactics, with which certain revolu-
tionary syndicalists of France, Spain, Italy and other coun-
tries are infected, are objectively nothing more than a tribute'
paid to bourgeois ideas. The Red Trade Unions cannot con-
quer the Yellow Amsterdam International and consequently
capitalism without repudiating the bourj?eois ideas of inde-
pendence and neutrality once for all. From the pdnt of^^Tp
igitizea ^ g
— 142 —
view of economizing and concentrating blows, the formation
of a single united proletarian International would unite in
its ranks political parties and all other forms of labor orga-
nizations. The future will undoubtedly belong to this type
of organization. However, in the present transitional period,
given the actual variety of trade unions in the different
countries, it is unavoidably necessary to create an Interna-
tional Association of Red Trade Unions, which will on the
whole stand for the platform of the Communist Interna-
tional, but which will admit members much more freely than
IS done by the Communist International.
The Third Congress of the Communist International
promises its support to the Red International of Trade
Unions, which is to be organized on these lines. To bring
about a closer union between the Communist International
and the Red International of Trade Unions, the Third Con-
gress of the Communist International proposes that it
should be represented by three members on the Executive
of the Red International of Trade Unions and vice versa.
The program of action which in the opinion of the Com-
munist International should be accepted by the Constituent
World Congress of Red Trade Unions, runs approximatdy
as follows:
The Program of Action
1) The acute economic crisis spreading all over the world,
the catastrophical fall of wholesale prices, the overproduc-
tion of goods combined with an actual lack oT sale, the mili-
tant policy of the bourgeoisie towards the working class, the
tenacious tendency towards the reduction of wages and the
throwing of the workers far backwards; the growing exas-
peration of the masses on one side and the impotence of
the old trade unions and their methods on the other> — impose
new problems on the revolutionary class trade unions all
over the world. New methods of economic struggle are
required. Called forth by the decomposition of capitalism,
a new aggressive economic policy of the Trade Unions i^
Digitized by V3OOQIC
— 143 —
necessary in order to parry the attacks of a^ital, and
strengthen the old position — ^passing over to the offensvie.
2) The basis of the tactics of the trade unions is the
direct action of revolutionary masses and their organizations
against capitalism. The gains of the workers are in propor-
tion to the d^^ree of direct action and revolutionary activity
of the masses. Under "direct action" we mean all forms
of direct pressure of the workers upon the employers and
the state: boycott, strike, street demonstrations, seizure of
the factories, armed uprisings and other revolutionary ac-
tivity, which tend to unite the working class in the fight for
Socialism. The aim of the revolutionary trade unions is,
therefore, to turn direct action into a weapon of education
and fighting ability of the working masses for the social rev-
olution and institution of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
3) The last year of the struggle has shown with particu-
lar vividness the impotence of strictly trade union organiza-
tions. The fact of the workers in one concern belonging
to several unions produce a weakening effect on the struggle.
It is necessary — ^and this should be the starting point of a
tenacious struggle — ^to pass from a strictly trade union, to
an organization of trade unions on the struggle of produc-
tion. "One union for one enterprise'' — ^this is the militant
motto in the organization structure. The fusion of related
unions into one union should be effected in a revolutionary
way putting this question directly before the members of the
unions in the factories and concerns and further, before
district and regional conferences, as well as before the na-
tional congresses.
4) Each factory and each mill should become a citadel of
the revolution. Old forms of communication between rank
and file members of the union and the union itself such as
money collectors, representatives, proxies and others should
be substituted by the formation of factory committees. The
factory committee must be elected by the workers engaged
in the given enterprise, independently of the political creed
they profess. The problems imposed upon the supportersjol ,
gitizedbyCjOOgle
— 144 —
th Red International of Trade Unions is to involve bSI the
workers of a given concern into the election of theit repre-
sentative organ. The attempt to elect the factory commit-
tee exclusively among adherents of the same party, casting
aside the broad non-party rank and file workers, should be
severely condemned. This would be only a nucleus and not
a factory committee* The revolutionary workers ^ould in-
fluence and act upon the general meetings as well as upon
committees of action and their rank and file members.
5) The first question to be put before the workers and
the factory committee is the maintenance of the workers dis-
<:harged on account of unemployment, at the expense of the
enterprise. It should not be permitted that workers should
be thrown out into the streets wihout the enterprise being in
the least concerned with it. The owner must be compelled to
pay full wages to the unemployed and mainly to the workers
engaged in th^ enterprises, explaining to the latter at the
same time that the problem of unemployment is not to be
solved within the capitalist regime, and that the only way
to abolish it is the social revolution and the dictatorship of
the proletariat. ,
6) The closing down of enterprises and curtailing of the
workers' hours are at the present time the most efficient
weapon for the cleansing of the industrial establishments of
unreliable elements with the help of which the bourgeoisie is
compelling the workers to accept the reduction of wages,
increasing of the working day and the abolition of collective
bargaining. The lock-out is taking more and more definitely
a form of direct action on the part of the employers. For
this purpose special controlling commissions should be in-
stituted with regard to fulfilling orders controlling raw ma-
terials, in order to verify the quantities of available raw
material necessary for production, as well as money resources
in the banks. Specially elected controlling commissions must
investigate in a most careful manner the financial cO-rela-
tion existing between the given enterprise and other concerns t
- 145 —
and the practical task of abolishing commercial mastery
should be imposed upon the workers for this purpose.
7) One of the ways of struggling against the dosing
down of concerns for the purpose of reduction of wages and
standard of life, should be the taking hold of the workers
of the factories and mills and proceed with production by
themselves despite the owners.
Owing to the lack of goods it is highly important to con-
tinue production, and the workers should therefore oppose
the premeditated closing down of factories and mills. In
connection with local conditions and the condition of produc-
tion, the political situation, the tension of the social struggle,
the seizure of the enterprises may and should be followed
by other means of pressure upon capital. On taking hold
of the concern the management of the same should be con-
fined to factories and workshops committees and a repre-
sentative of the union specially appionted for the purpose.
8) The economic struggle should follow the motto of an
increase in wages and of the improvements of the labor con-
ditions to a much higher degree^ as compared with the pre-
war period. The attempts to bring back the workers to the
pre-war con'Iitions of labor must meet with the most reso-
lute revolutionary resistance. The exhaustion of the work-
in^g^ class as a consequence of the war must be compensated
by an increate in wages and the improvement of tfie labor
conditions. The reference of capitalists to foreign coiri^eti-
tion sho^ild by no means be taken into consideration. The
revolutionary trade unions are bound to approach the ques-
tion of wages and labor conditions not from the point of
\iew of the competition between rapacious capitalists of
diflFerent nations, but solely from that of the preservation
and the defense of the living labor force.
9. In the case of such tendencies of reducing wagM
taken up by capitalists of an economic crisis in the country,
the task of the revolutionary trade uniwis should consist ia
their endeavors to prevent the reduction in wage<i by turn in
each separate concern; in order not to be diefeated in parts. ^OQqIc
_146 —
The workers engaged in the enterprises of public welfare
such as the mining, railroad, electric, gas concerns and others,
should be drawn in at once, in order that the struggle against
the onslaughts of capital should touch the very nerve of
the economic organism.
All ways of resistance, from the separate intentiitteiit
strike up to the general strike embracing all large fundamen-
tal industries on a national scale, are, in such a case not only
advisable but strictly necessary.
10) The trade unions must consider it their practical
task to prepare and organize international action in each
separate industry. The interruption in transport or coal
mining on an international scale is a mighty weapon in the
struggle against the reactionary' attempts of the world bour-
geoisie.
The trade unions must attentively study the course of
events all over the world, choosing the most appropriate
moment for their economic action, not forgetting for a single
instant that international action is possible only when real
revolutionary class conscious trade unions are formed on an
international scale, having nothing in common with the Yel-
low Amsterdam International.
11) The belief in the absolute value of collective agree-
ments propagated by the opportunists of all countries, must
be met with a resolute and keen resistance from the part
of the revolutionary trade union movement. The collec-
tive agreement is nothing more than an armistice. The own-
er always violates these collective compacts when the small-
est opportunity presents itself for doing so. The respect-
ful attitude toward collective agreements testifies only that
the bourgeois conceptions are deeply rooted in the mind?
of the leaders of the working class. The revolutionary
trade unions, without rejecting as a rule the collective agree-
ments, must realize its relative value and clearly define the
methods to abolisb these agreements when it proves to be
[)rc)fitable to the working class.
12) The struggle of the labor organizations against the t
o
— 147 —
individual and collective employer, while adapting itself to
national and local conditions, should utilize all the experi-
ence acquired during the previous periods of the struggle
for the liberation of the working class.
Therefore, every large strike should not only be well pre-
pared but simultaneously with the declaration of it, there
must be organized special detachments for the struggle
against scabbing and for counteracting the provocative move-
ment on the part of all kinds of white guard organizations,
encouraged by the bourgeoisie and the government. The
Fascisti in Italy, the Technical Aid in Germany, the civil
white guard organization consisting of ex-commissioried and
non-commissioned officers in France and in England — ^all
these organizations pursue the aim of disorganizing and
forestalling all the actions of the workers with the purpose
not only to replace the strikers by scabs, but to destroy ma-
terially their organizations and kill the leaders of the labor
movement. The organization of special strike militia and
special self-defense detachments is a question of life and
death to the workers under similar conditions.
13) These militant organizations should not only struggle
against the attacks of the employers and the strike-break-
ing organizations, but take the initiative by stopping all
freight and products transported to their respective fac-
tories and all other enterprises, and the union of the trans-
port workers ought to play a specially prominent part in
such cases. The task of stopping the transportation of
freight which has fallen on their shoulders can be realized
by the unanimous support of all the workers of the given
locality.
14) All the economic struggles of the working class
should center around the slogan of the Party— "Workers'
control over production" — ^which control ought to be realized
as soon as possible without waiting for the ruling classes
and the government to prevent the initiation of the slme.
It is necessary to carry on a merciless struggle against all
the attempts of the ruling classes and reformists to estab- (^ r^r^(j]r>
igi ize y . o
~ 148 —
llsh intermediary labor affiliations and intermediary control
committees. Only when control is realized directly by the
workers themselves will the results be definitive. The revo-
lutionay trade unions ought to fight resolutely against that
perverted socialism and graft with which the leaders of the
old trade unions, aided by the ruling classes, are practising.
All the talk of these gentlemen about the peaceable socializa-
tion of the industry is done with the sole aim to divert the
attention of the working class from revolutionary action
and the social revolution.
15). In order to divert the workers from their dire
problem and instil in them petty bourgeois aspirations, thi
advance the idea of workers participating in the profiti
which means the return to the workers of an insignificant
part of. the wealth created by them, and which is called sur-
plus value. This slogan, only meant for the demoralization
of the workers, should be met by severe and rigorous criti-
cism : "Not yarticipation in profits,' but the eutire elimina-
tion of all capitalist profit," should be the slc^n of the revo-
lutionary unions.
16) For the purpose of crippling or breaking the fight-
ing power of the working class, the bourgeois states have re-
sorted, under the pretense of protecting vital industries, to
temporary militarization of individual industrial enterprises
or entire branches of industry. For the ostensible purpose
of preventing economic disturbances, they introduced com-
pulsory arbitration and exchange of agreements for the fur-
ther protection of capitalism. Also in the interests of capi-
talism, the burden of war expenditures has been placed en-
tirely on the shoulders of workers by the introduction of
the direct subtraction of taxes from their ¥rages, which
turns the employer into a tax-collector. Against these state
measures calculated to serve only the interests of the capi-
taliit dass the bitterest fight must be waged by the trade
unions.
17) Whfle carrying on the striKrcrle for the improvement
of labor conditions, the elevation of the living standard of
— 149 —
the masses and the establishment of workers control, it is
always necessary to remember that it is impossible to solve
ail these problems within the limits of the capitalist forms of
government. Therefore the revolutionary trade unions
wrenching concessions from the ruling classes everywhere,
torcing them to legislate socialistic laws, should always
clearly explain to the workers that only the overthrow of the
bourgeoisie and the establishment of the dictatorship of the
proletariat can solve that important question. Therefore,
every local uprising, every local strike, and every small con-
Hict shotdd be guided by the above mentioned principle. The
revolutionary trade unions ought to make these conflicts gen-
eral, elevating the consciousness of the workers to the com-
prehension of the inevitability of the social revolution and
the dictatorship of the proletariat.
18) Every economic struggle is also a pditical, i. e., a
general class struggle. No matter how great a working
class section a given country may contain, sucb a stru^le
can only acquire a real revolutionary character, and result
in the greatest benefit to the entire working class, only when
the revolutionary trade unions act in perfect unity and main-
tain the closest co-ordination with the Communist Party of
that country. The theory and practice of fostering a split
of the workers in the dass struggle into two indq>endent
parts is extremely detrimental to the present revdutionary
period. This struggle requires the greatest concentration of
forces^ a concentration characterized by the greatest expres-
sion of .evolutionary energy of th working class, i. e., of all
the Communists and revolutionary elements. Dual actions
by the Communist Party on the one hand and the red revo-
lutionary trade unions on the other hand are doomed in ad-
vance to failure and miscarriage. Unity of action and or-
ganic co-ordination of the Communist Party with the trade
unions are therefore preliminary conditions t# sttcctss in toe
struggle against capitalism.
Digitized by
Google
THESIS ON THE WORK OF COMMUNISTS
IN THE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES
(Adopted at the 22nd Session, July 10th, 1921)
1) In the period of a proletarian revolution two prob-
lems arise for the proletarian co-operatives — (a) to aid the
working masses in the struggles for the conquest of politi-
cal power, (b) where such power has already been seized, to
assist them in the work of socialist reconstruction.
2) The old co-operatives pursued the path of Refona-
ism and avoided the revolutionary struggle.
Tbis consumers' co-operative embodied in itself the idea of
a slow growth into "Socialism," without the aid of the dic-
tatorship of the proletariat.
It preached the political neutrality of the co-operati\e, in
reality concealing under this watchword the subjection ot ihc
co-operatives to the political aims of the imperialistic bour-
geoisie.
Its internationalism was limited to words. In reality it
transforms the international solidarity of the workers into a
colaboration of the working class with the bourgeoisie of its
own country.
With such a policy the revolution is not furthered but
impeded by the co-operatives. Instead of of accelerating,
they hinder the revolutionary development.
3) The various forms of co-operatives cannot equally
serve the proletarian movement, for the consumers' co-oper-
atives are the most adaptable. But among these there are
many co-operatives which consist of bourgeois elements.
Such co-operatives will never place themselves on the sid<
of the proletariat in the revolutionaty struggle. O'^T^b^^T/^
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— 151 —
workers' co-operatives in town and country are capable of
doing this.
4) The tasks of the Communists in the co-operative
movement are as follows:
1) To propagate Communist ideas.
2) To transform the co-operative movement into an
instrument of the revolutionary class struggle, without
detaching the local societies from the national organiza-
tion as a whole.
It is the duty of Communists to form groups within the
Co-operatives whose aim should be to organize a Central
Bureau of the Communist Co-operative in every cpuntry.
The groups, as well as the Central Bureau, must remain
in constant touch with the Communist Party and with their
representatives on the Co-operative Committees. The Cen-
tral Bureau must work out the tactics for the Communists :n
the Co-operative Movement, setting forth the best methods
to lead and organize the movement.
5) The practical problems which confront the rcAolu-
tionary co-operatives of the West at any given moment will
become clearer in the process of struggle, but even at the
present time it is possible to mark out some of them.
a) Agitation and propaganda of Communist ideas by
printed word and by mouth. A struggle for the emancipa-
tion of the Co-operatives from the leadership and the In-
fluence of the bourgeois compromiser.
b) The alliance of the Co-operatives with the Commu-
nist parties and the Red Trade Industrial Unions. The di-
rect and indirect participation of the Co-operatives in the
political struggle; in demonstrations and political campaigns
of the proletariat.
The rendering of material support to the Communist Party
and its press, and similar aid to strikers, locked-out work-
ers, etc.
c) The struggle against the imperialistic policy of the
bourgeoisie, and particularly the struggle against the inter-
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— 152 —
vention of the Entente in the affairs of Soviet Russia and
other Soviet countries.
d) The creation not only of ideal and organizational
connections, but also of business connections with workers'
co-operatives of different countries.
e) Ihe struggle for the speediest establishment of com-
mercial treaties and commercial relations with Soviet Rus-
sia* and other Soviet Republics.
f) The most active interchange of conunodities with
these repubUcs.
g) The use of the natural wealth of the Soviet coun-
tries by obtaming concessions for the Co-operatives.
6) The functions of the Co-operatives will only fully
develop after the triumph of the proletarian revolution, iiut
the experience of Soviet Russia makes it possible to point
out certain characteristic features now.
a) Th Consumers' Co-operatives must take hold of all
affairs connected with the distribution of food and products
according to the plans given by the proletarian Govern-
ment. This will lead the co-operatives towards an unprece-
dented expansion.
b) The Co-operative must become an organization which
connects the small scattered industry of the peasants and
handicraftsmen, with the central economic organs of the
Proletarian Government. By means of Co-operatives, the
latter will direct the work of the small scattered industries
on a general plan. The Consumers' Co-operatives will be
the organ which collects foodstuffs and raw materials from
the small producers, for their transmission to members of
co-operative societies and to the government.
c) In addition to this, industrial Co-operatives can bring
the small producers together into Common Workshops,
which will allow the appUcation of machine work and scien-
tific and technical processes of labor. This will give small
industry a technical basis which will render possible the crea-
tion of a socialized industry, making for the destructicm of .
Digitizea ^ ^^"-^
— 153 —
the individualistic psychology of the petty artisan and the de-
velopment of a collective psychology.
7) Taking into consideration the important parts which
the revolutionary co-operatives will play during the epoch of
a proletarian revolution, the Third Communist International
advises the parties, groups and organizations to carry on
energetic propaganda for the idea of Communist Co-opera-
tives and the formation of Communist groups inside the so-
cieties, in order to transform the Co-operative movement and
bring it into union with the revolutionary trade unions.
The Congress instructs the Executive Committed of the
Communist International to organize a Co-operative Depart-
ment whose duty it shall be to promote the tasks here enu-
merated; this department shall call meetings, conferences
and congresses on an international scale for the realization
of these Co-operative aims.
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THE THIRD CONGRESS OF THE COMMU-
NIST INTERNATIONAL AND THE WORK
OF THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT
{Adopted at the 22nd Session, July 10th, 1921)
The Third Congress of the International instructs the
Executive Committee to form a Co-operative Department;
to convene international Co-operative conferences, and orga-
nize councils and congresses as the need arises, for the pur-
pose of realizing on an international scale the tasks set forth
in the Theses.
The department will also regard as its duties: (a) The
strengthening of the activities of Agricultural and Industrial
Workers Co-operatives, by the communalization of small,
semi-proletarian industries and improvement of their work-
ing conditions, (b) To lead the struggle to place the entire
national distribution of food-stuflfs and products of industry
in the hands of the Co-operatives, (c) Propaganda for the
principles and methods of revolutionary Co-operation, to
gain the aid of the proletarian co-operatives for the material
support of the struggling workers, (d) To support the
establishment of international trade and financial relations
among the various Co-operatives, and to organize their
joint production.
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THESIS ON METHODS OF WORK AMONG
THE WOMEN OF THE COMMU-
NIST PARTY
(Adopted at the 20th Session, July 8th, 1921)
1. The Third Congress of the Comintern in conjunction
with the Second International Womens' Congress confirms
the decision of the First and Second Congresses on the
necessity for increasing the work of all the Communist
Parties of the East and West among proletarian women.
The masses of women workers must be educated in the spirit
of Communism and so drawn into the struggle for Soviet
Power and into the construction of the Soviet Labor Repub-
lic. In all countries the working classes, and consequently
the women workers, are faced with the problem of the
dictatorship of the proletariat.
The capitalist economic system has got into a blind alley,
for there is no room for the further development of indus-
trial forces within that system. The general impoverish- .
ment of the workers, the impotence of the bourgeoisie to
revive production, the development of speculative enter-
prises, the decay in the production system, unemployment,
the fluctuation of prices out of keeping with wages, — ^all
this l^ads inevitably to the deepening of the class struggle
in all countries. This struggle is to decide who shall con-
duct, administer, and organize production, and upon what
system that should be done, — ^whether it should be in the
hands of a clique of bourgeois exploiters, and be carried
on upon the principles of capitalism and private property,
or in the hands of the producing class and carried on upon
a Communist basis.
The newly rising class, the class of producers, must in
accordance with the laws of economic production,take the
productive apparatus into its own hands, and set up pcw^ t
Digitized by VjOOQlC
— 156 —
forms of public economy. Only in such a way will it be
possible to create the necessary impetus for the development
of the economic forces to the maximum and for the removal
of the anarchy of capitalist production.
So long as the power of government is in the hands of
the bourgeois class, the proletariat has no power to organize
production. No reforms, no measure, carried out by the
democratic or socialistic governments of the bourgeois coun-
tries, are able to save the situation. They cannot alleviate
the unbearable sufferings of the working women and work-
ing men, sufferings which are due to the disorganization of
the capitalist system of production, and which are going to
last as long as the power is in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
Only by seizing the power of government will the prole-
tariat be able to take hold of the means of production, and
thus secure the possibility of directing the eonomic develop-
ment in the interests of the toilers.
In order to hasten the hour of the decisive conflict be-
tween the proletariat and the degenerating bourgeois world,
the working class must adhere to the firm and unhesitating
tactics outlined by the Third International. The most fun-
damental and immediate goal determining the methods of
work and the line of struggle for the proletariat of both
sexes must be the dictatorship of labor.
As the' struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat is
the vital question before the proletariat of all the capitalist
countries, and the construction of Communism is the im-
portant task of those countries where the dictatorship is
already in the hands of the workers, the Third Congress of
the Communist International maintains that the conquest
of power by the proletariat, as well as the achievement of
Communism in those countries where the capitalist state has
already been overthrown, can be realized only with the
active participation of the wide masses of the proletarian
and semi-proletarian women.
On the other hand the Congress once more calls the at-
tention of all women to the fact that without the support of
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— 157 —
the Communist parties in all the tasks and undertakings
leading td the liberation and enfranchisement of the women,
this task is practically impossible of achievramit.
*2. The interest of the working class, especially at the
present moment, imperatively demands the recruiting of
women into the organized ranks of the proletariat, fighting
for Communism.
The economic ruin throughout the world is becoming
more acute and more unbearable to the entire city and coun-
try poor. Before the working class of the bourgeois-capi-
talist countries the question of the social revolution rises
more and more clearly, and before the working class of
Soviet Russia the question of reconstructing the public
economy of the land on a new communist basis, becomes
more and more vital. Both these tasks will be more easily
realized, the more active and the more conscious and willing
the participation of the women.
3. Wherever the question of the conquest of power
arises, the Communist Parties must consider the great
danger to the revolution represented by the inert, unin-
formed masses oi women workers, housewives, employees,
peasant women, not liberated from the influence of the
bourgeois church and bourgeois superstitions, and not con-
nected in some way or other with the great liberating move-
ment of Communism. Unless the masses of women of the
East and West arc drawn into this movement, they inevit-
ably become the stronghold of the bourgeoisie and the object
of counter-revolutionary propaganda. The experience of
the revolution in Hungary, where the ignorance of the mass-
es of women played such a pitiful part, should serve, in this
case, as a warning for the proletariat of all ether countries
entering upon the road of social revolution.
On the other hand, the experience of the Soviet Republic
showed in practice how important the participation tf the
women workers and peasants has been in the civil war in
the defence of the Republic, as well as in all other activities
of the Soviet construction. Facts have proven the imppfet" t
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— 158 —
ance of the part which the women workers and peasants
have already played in the Soviet Republic in the organiza-
tion of defence, strengthening the rear; the struggle against
desertion, and against all sorts of counter-revolution, sabo-
tage, etc. The experience of the Workers Republic must
serve as a lesson to all other countries.
Hence, the direct task of the Communist Parties : to spread
the influence of the Communist 'Party to the widest circles
of the women population of their countries,; organizing a
special party body and applying special methods; appealing
to the women outside of it, to free them from the influence
of the bourgeoisie and the compromising parties, and edu-
cating them to be real fighters for Communism, and there-
fore for the complete enfranchisement of the women.
4. Putting before the Communist Parties of the East and
West the direct task of extending the activity of the Party
among the women proletariat the Third Congress of the
Comintern declares also to the women of the entire world,
that their emancipation from age-long slavery and inequality
depend upon the victory of communism.
What Communism offers to the wdhien, the bourgeois
women's movement will never afford her. So long as the
power of capitalism and private property continue to exist,
the emancipation of woman from subservience to her hus-
band cannot proceed further than her right to dispose of her .
property and earnings, as she sees fit, and also to decide on
equal terms with her husband, the destiny of their children.
The most definite aini of the feminists — to grant the vote
to the women — under the regime of bourgeois parlimentar-
ism, does not solve the question of the actual equalization of
women, especially of those of the dispossessed classes. This
has been clearly demonstrated by the experience of the work-
ing women in those capitalist countries where the bourgeoisie
lias formally recognized the equality of the sexes. The
right to vote does not remove the prime cause of women's
enslavement in the family and in society. The substitution
of the church marriage by civil marriage does not in tflf
Digitized by LjOOQIC
least alleviate the situation. The dependence of the prole- .
tarian woman upon the capitalist and upon her husband as •
the economic mainstay of the family remains just the same.
The absence of adequate laws to safeguard motherhood and
infancy and the lack of proper social education render en-
tirely impossible the equalization of woman^s position in
matrimonial relations. As a matter of fact, nothing that
can be done under the capitalist order will furnish the key
to the solution of the problem of the relationship of the
sexes.
Only under Communism, not merely the formal, but the
actual equalization of women will be achieved. Then woman
will be the rightful owner, on a par with all the members of
the working class, of the means of production and distribu-
tion. She will participate in the management of mdustry
and she will assume an equal responsibility for the well-
being of society.
In other words, only by overthrowing the system of ex-
ploitation of man by man, and by supplanting the capitalist
mode of production by the Communist organization of
industry will the full emancipation of woman be achieved.
Only Communism affords the conditions which are neces-
sary in order that the natural functions of woman — smother-
hood — should not come into conflict with her social obliga-
tions and hinder her creative work for the benefit of society.
On the contrary, Communism will facilitate the most har-
^ monious and diversified development of a healthy and beau-
tiful personality that is indissolubly bound together with the
whole life and activities of entire society. Communism
should be the aim of all women who are fighting for com-
plete emancipation and real freedom.
But, Communism is also the final aim of the proletariat.
Consequently, the struggle of the working women for this
aim must be carried on in the interests of both, under a
united leadership and control, as "one and indivisible" to
the entire world movement of the revolutionary proletariat.
5. The Third Congress of the Comintern confirms the j
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— 160 —
basic proposition of revolutionary Marxism, i.e., that there
is no "specific woman question" and no "specific women's
movement," and, that every sort of alliance of working
women with bourgeois feminism, as well as any support by
the women workers of the treacherous tactics of the social-
compromisers and opportunists leads to the undermining of
the forces of the proletariat, delaying thereby the triumph
of the social revolution and the advent of Communism, and
thus also postponing the g^eat hour of women's tdtimate
liberation.
Communism will be achieved not by "united eflForts of all
women of diflFerent classes," but by the united struggle of
all the exploited.
In their own interests the m^ses of proletarian women
should support the revolutionary tactics of the Communist
Party and take a most active and direct part in all mass-
actions and all forms of civil war on a national and inter-
national scope.
6. Woman's struggle against her double oppression (capi-
talism and her home and family subservience), at its highest
stage of development assumes an international character,
becoming identified with the struggle of the proletariat of
both sexes under the manner of the Third International for
the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Soviet System.
7. While warning the Women workers against entering
into any form of alliance and co-operation with the hour*-
geois feminists, the Third Congress of the Comintern, at the
same time, points out to the working women of all countries
that to cherish any illusions of the possibility for the pro-
letarian women to support the Second International or any
of the opportunistically inclined elements adhering to it
without causing serious damage to the cause of women's
emancipation — ^will prove infinitely detrimental for the lib-
erating struggle of the proletariat. The women must con-
stantly remember that woman's present-day slavery has
grown out of the bourgeois order. In order to put an end
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— 161 — .
to women's slavery it is necessary to inaugurate the new
Communist organization of society.
Any support rendered to the Second and the Second-and-
a-half Internationals hampers the social revolution, delaying
the advent of the new order. The more resolutely and un-
compromisingly the women masses will turn away from the
Second and the Second-and-a-half Internationals, the more
certain will be the triumph of the Social Revolution. It is
the sacred duty of all women Communists to condemn those
who flinch from the revolutionary tactics of the Comintern
and to demand their expulsion from the ranks of the Comin-
tern. The women ought to remember that the Second
International never created and never attempted to create
any organ, whose task would be to carry on an active strug-
gle for the complete emancipation of woman. The orga-
nization of an International alliance of women socialists was
started outside the Second International by the initiative of
the men workers themselves. The women Socialists who
devoted themselves to work among women had neither rep-
resentation nor a decisive vote in the Second International.
At its first Congress, in 1919, the Third International
defined its attitude towards enlisting the support of women
in the struggle for the dictatorship. On its initiative, the
first conference of women Communists was convened in
1920 and an International Secretariat for work among
women was constituted with a permanent representation in
the Executive Committee of the Comintern. It is the duty
of all class-conscious women workers to break uncondition-
ally with the Second and Second-and-a-Half Internationals
and support whole-heartedly the revolutionary tactics of the
Comintern.
8. The support of the Comintern by the women workers
of all occupations should, first of all, express itself in their
willingness to enter into the ranks of the Communist Party
of their respective countries. In those countries and parties
where the struggle between the Second and Third Inter-
nationals has not yet come to a head, it is the duty of the^___T_
^ gitizedbyCiOOgie
— 162 —
women workers to support, by all means, the Party and
groups that stand for the Comintern and carry on a relent-
less warfare against all vacillating and avowedly treacherous
elements, irrespective of any authorities holding a diflFerent
view. The class-conscious women who are striving for
emancipation should not remain in any parties which have
not joined the Comintern. Those who are opposed to the
Third International are the enemies of the emancipation of
women.
The place of conscious working women in Eastern and
Western countries is under the flag of the Communist
International and in the, ranks of the Communist Parties of
their own ountries. All wavering on the part of the work-
ing women and the fear to sever connection with the parties
of compromise, and the hitherto acknowledged authorities
have a pernicious influence on the satisfactory progress of
the great proletarian struggle which is assuming the nature
of an open and relentless civil war on a World scale.
Methods and Form of Work Among Women
Owing to all the above mentioned reasons, the Third Con-
gress of the Comintern holds that the work among the pro-
letarian women should be carried on by the Communist
Parties of all countries, on the following basis:
1. Women must be enlisted as full-fledged members of
the Party, on the basis of equality and independence, in all
militant class organizations, trade unions, co-operatives, fac-
tory committees, etc.
2. To recognize the importance of recruiting women into
all branches of the active struggle of the proletariat (includ-
ing military service for the defence of the proletariat) and
into the construction of new forms of society and the orga-
nization of industry and life on a communist basis.
3. To recognize the functions of motherhood as a social
function, promoting and supporting appropriate measures to
aid and protect women as the bearer of the human race.
Being earnestly opposed to the separate organization of
women into all sorts of parties, unions, or any other^special j
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— 163 —
women's organizations, the Third. Congress, nevertheless,
believes that in view of : a) the present conditions of sub-
jection prevailing not only in the bourgeois-capitalist coun-
tries, but also in countries under the Soviet system, under-
going transition from capitalism to communism; b) the
great inertness and political ignorance of the masses of
women, due to the fact that they have been for centuries
barred from social life and to age-long slavery in the family,
and, c) the special functions imposed upon women by na-
ture — childbirth, and the peculiarities attached to this, calling
for the protection of her strength and health in the interests
of the entire community, the Third Congress therefore con-
siders it nece;3sary to find ^special methods of work among
the women of the Communist Parties and establishes a stand-
ard of special apparatus within the Communist Parties for
the realization of this work. The apparatus for this work
among the women in the Party should be the sections or
committees for work among women, organized by all party
committees commencing with the Executive Committee and
ending with the city districts or village party committees.
This decision is obligatory for all parties attached to the
Comintern.
The Third Congress points out that, among the tasks set
before the Communist Parties carried out through the sec-
tions are: 1) to educate the wide masses of women in the
spirit of Communism, drawing them into the ranks of the
Party; 2) to fight against the prejudices of male proletar-
ians towards the women, strengthening in the working men
and women the consciousness of mutual interests of the pro-
letarians of both sexes; 3) to increase the will-power of the
women by drawing them into all kinds and forms of political
struggle, to awaken their activity and participation in the
struggle against capitalist exploitation in the bourgeois coun-
tries, by mass demonstrations against the high cost of living,
against the housing conditions, unemployment ,and in other
revolutionary forms of the class war; the participation of
the women workers in the construction of the Communist ^^ j
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— ( 164 —
State and in the Soviet republics; 4) to put on the Order
of Business among the tasks of the parties and to pass rules
tending to the direct enfranchisement of the women, recog-
nizing her equality and the protection ol her interests as the
perpetuator of the race; 5) to wage a well-planned fight
against traditions, bourgeois customs and religion, clearing
the way for better and more harmonious relations between
the sexes, protecting the physical and moral strength of
laboring htmianity.
The entire work of the sections or committees should be
carried on under the direct control and responsibility of the
Party Committees. A member of the local Party Commit-
tee should be at the head of such section or committee.
Communists should be members of these committees or col-
legiums wherever it is possible.
All measures and problems of the Committees or sections
of work among the women must not be handled by them
independently, but in the Soviet Republics through tfie res-
pective economic and political organs (branches of the
Soviets, Commissariats, Trade Unions, etc.) and, in the capi-
talist countries, with the support of the respective organs of
the proletarian parties, unions, factory Committees, etc.
In all places where the communist parties exist illegally or
semi-legally, the Party should organize an ill^[al apparatus
for work among women. In all illegal bodies there must be
at least one party member to organize the women for ill^al
work.
The present period requires that Trade and Industrial
Unions should form the principle basis for work among
women, both in countries which still carry on the struggle
for the overthrow of the capitalist yoke, as well as in the
Soviet Labor Republics.
The spirit with which the work among women should be
imbued is that of the unity of the Party movement, of an
intact organization, of independent initiative and independ-
ent of Connnissions and Sections aiming at a speedy and
complete iemancipation of women, to be brought about by the
A
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— 165 —
Party. What should be striven after is not paralldism in
5 activity, but assistance in the activity of the Party by means
of self -development and initiative of the working women.
it
k Work of the Party Amongst Women in Soviet
Countries
It is the task of the Sections of the Soviet Labor Repub-
lics to educate the masses of working women in a spirit of
J communism, by attracting them to the Communist Party; to
inspire and develop activity and self-reliance, by drawing
them into the work of constructive Communism and bring-
ing them up as staunch defenders of the Communist Inter-
national.
It is the task of the Sections to attract the women to every
form of Soviet construction, including questions of de-
fense, as well as all the many economic plans of the Re-
public.
In the Soviet Republics the Sections should see that all
the regulations of the 8th Congress of Soviets regarding
the attraction of working and peasant women to the work
of building up and organizing public production, as well as
their participation in the work of all those organs which di-
rect, manage, control and organize production should be car-
ried out. The Sections should participate through their rep-
resentatives and through the Party organs in the elabora-
tion of new laws and exercise an influence on the alteration
of such as require much alteration in the interest of the en-
franchisement of women. The Sections should take the
greatest interest and show most initiative in the develop-
ment of those laws which deal with the protection of the
labor of women and children.
It is the duty of the Sections to attract the greatest pos-
sible nimiber of working and peasant women to all election
campaigns of Soviets, as also to see to it that working and
peasant women are elected as members of Soviets and
Executive Committees.
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— 166 —
The Sections should make it their business to assist in
every way possible in making a success of political and eco-
nomic campaigns carried on by the Party.
It is the task of the Sections to assist the growth of
skilled women labor by means of professional education, as
well as to facilitate the admission of the working and peas-
ant women to the corresponding educational establishments.
The Sections should facilitate the entrance of working
women into the Commission for the Protection of Labor in
various enterprises, and should also accelerate the activity
of the auxiliary Committees for the Protection of Mother
and Child.
The Sections should make it their business to assist the
development of all social institutions, such as communal, kit-
chens, laundries, repairing shops, institutions of social edu-
cation, communal houses, etc., which, basing as they do, the
conditions of life upon a new Communist principle, amelior-
ate the difficulties which women experience during the transi-
tion period; assist their rapid enfranchisement and trans-
form the slave of the family and the home into a free co-
worker in the great social renaissance, a fellow creator of
- new forms of life.
Through the organizers working among women elected by
the Communist fraction of trade unions, the Sections should
assist in the education of the women workers, members of
the trade unions, in the spirit of Communism.
The Sections should look after the due attendance of the
working women at all general factory delegates conferences.
The Sections should carry out a systematic distribution
of auxiliary workers, for all the Soviet, economic and trade
union work.
The Sections must first of all take deep and firm root
among the proletarian women, wage-earners, and organize
propaganda among employees, housewives, and peasant
women.
To build up a firm connection between the Party and the
mass of the people, and to spread its influence over the non^Tp
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— 167 —
party members of society, and also, to develop the method of
the education of the women folks in the spirit of Commu-
nism, by teaching self-activity and participation in practical
work, the Women's Sections are to organize delegate meet-
ings of women workers.
The delegate meetings are the best means to educate the
women workers and peasants, and to spread the Party in-
flunce amongst the backward masses of women workers and
peasants.
These delegates meetings are formed from factory and
shop representatives of a certain region, city or volost. In
Soviet Russia, the women delegates are drawn into all kinds
of political and economic campaigns. They are sent into dif-
ferent committees in industry, are invited to control Soviet
institutions, and used for regular work in the Soviet De-
partments, in the capacity of clerks, for two months (Law
of 1921).
The women delegates should be elected at general meet-
ings of the shop workers, of the housewives and employees,
according to a certain rate of representation fixed by the
Party. The Women's Sections are obliged to carry on
propaganda and agitation among the delegates, for which
purpose special meetings of women delegates are to be ar-
ranged not less than twice a month. The delegates are re-
quested to make reports of their activities either in the shops
where they work, or at meetings arranged in the city dis-
tricts. The delegates should be elected for a period of three
months.
Another form of agitation among the women is the organi-
zation of large non-party conferences of women workers
and peasants. Representatives to conferences are to be
elected at meetings held for women workers — ^at their place
of work, and for peasant women — in the villages.
The Section for work among women is charged to call the
conferences, as well as to supervise their work.
In order to make the best use of the experience that the
women workers have secured by participating in the worfc^^^^T^
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— 168 —
and activities of the Party, the Branches and Committees
carry on an daborate campaign of propaganda by word of
mouth and press. The Sections arrange meetings and dis-
cussions for the women workers at the shops and for the
housewives at the city clubs. They exercise control over
the delegates meetings and carry on house to house agita-
tion.
To train active workers among the women, and to widen
their understanding of communism, the party must organ-
ize with the help of the Sections, special courses for work
among the women, at each Party schocd or school for So-
viet work.
In Capitalist Countries
The current tasks of the Qjmmittees or Sections for work
among women are initiated by the circumstances of the pe-
riod. On the one hand, the ruin of world economy, the ram-
pant growth of unemployment ; especially effecting the' wom-
en workers and tending to increase prostitution, the high
cost of living, the acute housing, question, and the threats
of new imperialistic laws ; on the other hand, the unceasing
strikes in aJl countries, repeated outbursts of armed uprisings
of the proletariat, and the ever more violent civil war
throughout the world, are the prologue to the inevitable
world social revolution.
The women's committees must put forward the most im-
portant tasks of the proletariat, fight for the unabridged
slogans of the Communist Party, of the Communists against
the bourgeoisie and sodal-compromisers. The committees
must see to it that the women are not only registered as
equal members of the Party, trade unions and other mili-
tant workers organizations, which are waging the fight
against all injustice or inequality of the women workers,
but also that the women should be allowed to occupy re-
sponsible positions in the Party, Union or Cooperative on
an equal basis with the men.
The Committees or Sections must facilitate the wo^ of j
Digitized by LjOOQIC
— 169 —
the wide masses of the women proletarians and peasant
women in utilizing their franchise in the interests of the
Communist Parties during election to the parliament and
to all the public institutions, explaining at the same time
the limitations of those rights, in the sense of weakening
the capitalist exploitation, promoting enfranchisement of
women, and replacing parliamentarism by the Soviet sys-
tem;
The Committees must also aid the women workers, em-
ployees and peasant women to take a most active part in
the dectioxis of revolutionary, economic and political So-
viets of workers deputies, obtaining representation in them ;
awakening the political activity of the housewives, and carry-
ing on a propaganda of the Soviet idea among the peasant
women. The special concern of the Committees must be the
realization of the principle of equal pay for equal work. It
is the task of the Committee to start a campaign, drawing
men and women workers into it, for free, universal educa-
tion, aiding the women to become highly qualified in their
work.
The Committees should see to it that women Communists
take part in the legislative, municipal and other legislative or-
ganizations, in fact, wherever women have the right to vote.
While participating in the legislative, muncipal and other
organizations of bourgeois States, Communist women should
stricty adhere to the tactics of the party, not concerning
themselves so much with the realization of reforms within
thejimits of the bourgeois world order, as taking advantage
of every live question and demand of the working women,
as. watch-words by which to lead the women into the active
mass struggle for these demands, through the dictatorship of
the proletariat.
The Committees or Sections must explain the disadvan-
tages and waste of the system of individual house keeping,
the bad bringing up and education of the chidren by the bour-
geoisie, rallying the women workers to the struggle '^O^wj^oOqIc
— 170 —
tical improvement of the conditions of the working class,
waged or supported by the Party.
The Committees must aid in recruiting the women to the
Communist Party from the Trade Unions, for which pur-
pose the Communist fraction of the Trade Unions appoints
an organizer for work among the women, under the direction
of the Party and the local branch. The entire work of the
Committee must be carried on with one purpose in view: the
development of the revolutionary activity of the masses and
the hastening of the social revolution.
In Economically Backward Countries (the Bast)
In conjunction with the Communist Party the Women's
Section should do everything possible to achieve in indus-
trially weak countries, the recognition of the Iq^al equality,
the equality both of rights and obligations, of women in the
Parties, Unions and other organizations of the working
class.
The Sections or Committees should carry on, in conjunc-
tion with the Party, a struggle against prejudice, religious
customs and habits which maintain an oppressive hold upon
the women; to achieve this, it is also necessary to carry on
propaganda among the men.
The Communist Party, togther with the Sections ch: Com-
missions, should carry out the principle of the equality of
women in matters of education of children, family relations
and general social life.
The Sections should look for support in their work, first of
all, among the large classes of women who are exploited by
capitalism in the capacity of workers in home industries
(Koustar), as laborers on rice, cotton and other planta-
tions, and assist in the general establishment of communal
workshops and home (Koustar) co-operatives; this applies
especially to all Eastern peoples living within the borders of
Soviet Russia; the Sections should also assist in the general
organization of all women engaged in plantation work with
the working men united in trade unions.
The raising of the general educational level of the popida- t
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- 171 —
don is one of the best means of fighting the general stagna-
tion of the country as well as religious prejudices. The
Committees or Sections should, therefore, assist in the open-
ing of schools for grown-ups and children, such schools also
to be accessible to the women. In bourgeois countries the
G)mmittees should carry on a direct agitation to counteract
the influence of the bourgeois schools.
Wherever possible, the Sections or Committees should
carry the agitation into the homes of the women and utilize
the field work of the women for purposes of agitation.
They should also organize dubs for working women, doing
ever3rthing to attract to these clubs the most backward sec-
tion of the women. These clubs should represent cultural
and educational centers and model institutions, illustrating
what can be achieved by women for their emancipation,
through such means of self-activity, as the organization of
creches, kindergartens, schools for adults and so forth.
Special clubs should be organized for nomadic peoples.
In Soviet lands the Sections, together with the Party,
should assist in the transformation of the existing pre-capi-
talist forms of production and economics into a communal
form of production. They should be practically propagated,
in a manner to convince the working women that the for-
mer home-life and» home-production oppressed and exploited
them, while communal labor will emancipate them.
With regard to the peoples of the East who live within the
borders of Soviet Russia, the Sections should take care that
Soviet l^islation should equalize men and women, and that
the interests of the women should be properly protected. For
this purpose, the Sections should assist in appointing women
to the position of judges, and as members of juries in na-
tional Courts of law.
The Sections should also get the women to participate in
Soviets, taking care that working and peasant women should
be elected into the Soviets and Executive Committees. All
work among the women proletariat of the East shotdd be
done on a class basis. It should be the task of the secti(^if)QQ|g
— 172 —
to expose the powerlessness of the Moslem feminists in the
solution of the question of the enfranchisement of women.
For enlightening purpose in all the Soviet countries of the
East, the intelligent feminine forces should be utilized, as,
for instance, women teachers and sympathizers, avoiding all
tactless and vulgar treatment of religious faiths and national
traditions. The Sections or Committees working amo..g the
women of the East should definitely fight against national-
ism and the hold of religion on the women's minds.
All of the organizations of the workers should, in the* East
as well as in the West, be built hot upon thfe basis of defend-
ing national interest, but upon the unity of the Interna-
tional proletariat of both sexes striving for the same class
aims.
Notice: The work among the Eastern women being
of great importance, and at the same time representing a
new problem for the Communist Parties, the Conference
deems it necessary to add to those theses special instruc-
tions on the methods of communist propaganda among the
women of the Eastern countries, appropriate to their local
habits and conditions.
Propaganda and Agitation Methods
In order to fulfill the principle task of the Sections, deal-
ing with the Communist education of the large masses of the
proletariat, and in order to reinforce this body of fighters, it
is necessary that all Communist Parties of the West and of
the East should realize that the principle of work among
women is "agitation and propaganda by deed."
Agitation by deed, first of all, signifies an ability to arouse
a sense of independence in the working women, to eradicate
the distrust in themselves and, by attracting them to the prac-
tical work of construction, to teach them by practical ex-
perience, th^t every conquest of the Communist Party, that
every action which is directed against the capitalist exploita-
tion, is one more step toward the improvement of the posi-
tion of women. The method which the Communist Party
and its Sections for work among women should use, can Ir^^^^T^
Digitized by VjOOyiC
— 173 —
expressed in the following words : "From experience and ac-
tion, to a knowledge of the ideas of Gnmnunism and of its
theoretical principles/'
In order that the Section should represent organs not of
verbal propaganda alone, but also of activity, it is necessary
that they should work in contact with the Communist Frac-
tions of the various enterprises and workshops, for which
purpose the latter should supply an organizer for the work
among the women of the respective enterprise or work-
shop.
The Sections should come into contact with the trade
unions through their representatives or organizers who are
appointed for that purpose by the trade union fraction, and
who should carry on work under the direction of Sections.
Propaganda, by deed, of Gwnmunist ideas in Soviet Rus-
sia, signifies that all the women workers, peasant women,
housewives and employees in all spheres of Soviet life, from
the army and militia down to every enfranchised Oblast
(district) should be drawn into the work on the organiza-
tion of Communal Housekeeping of establishing the neces-
sary number of institutions for Public Education, institutions
for the Protection of Motherhood, and so forth. A special
task is to draw the labor women into the bodies that control
production, etc.
Active prpaganda, by deeds, in the capitalist countries,
means first of all the enlistment of the women workers to
take part in strikes, demonstrations and other forms of the
dass struggle, fortifying and enlightening the revolution-
ary will and consciousness ; the recruiting of Women workers
to an sorts of Party activity, their utilization for purposes
of lUegsi work, particularly in despatch service, the organiza-
tion of party "Saturdays" or "Sundays" at which all women
sympathizers of communism, the wives of labor and profes-
sional men, in this way learn to be useful to the Piirty. The
principle of propaganda by acts and deeds is also aided by
drawing the women into all pditical, economic or educational ^Tp
igitizea ^ g
— 174 —
campaigns, from time to time carried on by .the Ccmamunist
Parties.
While organizing the feminine forces for the Party the
Sections must, first of all, leave deep and firm roots among ,
the women workers, developing propaganda activity also
among the housewives, employees and peasant women.
In order to carry out the work of propaganda by word of
mouth, according to a plan, the Sections must arrange meet- ^
ings in the factories and workshops, also open meetings for
women workers and employees according to profession or
location, as well as general public meetings of housewives.
They must see to it that canvassers and organizers are
elected by Jthe Communist groups of the trade unions, co-
operative and indutrial councils in capitalist states, and that
women members are elected in all the organizing, control-
ling and administrative bodies of the Soviet institutions. In
a word the labor women must be elected to all organizations,
which in capitalist countries must be used to revolutionize
the exploited and oppressed masses, and assist them in iheir
struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat; and in So-
viet countries to such organizations as serve to defend and
realize Communism.
The Sections must delegate experienced women Commu-
nists as workers or employees to enterprises where great
numbers of women are employed. These comrades must
settle down in large Proletarian districts and centers, as prac-
ticed with success in Soviet Russia. In the same way as the
working women's organizations of the Communist Party in
Soviet Russia organize meetings and conferences of dele-
gates not belonging to any party, the Communist women's
committee in the capitalist countries must cohvene public
meetings of women workers, female employees of every kmd.
peasant women and housewives, to discuss various questions
and needs of the day, and elect committees to serve as
connecting links between their respective constituencies and
the communist women's organizations and to attend to the
questions raised. They should also send spe^^kcrs represent-^ t
Digitized by'vjOOQlC
— 175 —
e
ing their views to gatherings of opposing organizations.
Public propaganda by means of meetings, etc., must be sup-
plemented by constant and I'egular home propaganda.
Each communist woman engaged in this work should not
have more than ten women visit at their, homes, on whom she
ought to call regularly at least once a week, and also on
every occasion of importance to the Communist Party, o* the
Proletarian masses.
In order to promote agitation, organization and educa-
tion among the masses by written word, the women's Sec-
tion of the Communist Parties are charged to work for the
establishment: 1) of a central women's communist jour-
nal in every country, 2) to secure the appearance of wom-
en's department in the Communist press, as also the printing
of articles in the political and industrial papers. They must
provide editors for such publications, and find adequate as-
sistance for them in the ranks of , professional and militant
women. The Sections must publish and distribute simple,
stimulating and adequate literature in pamphlets and leaflets.
They must strive to make the best possible use of their mem-
bers.
Women Communists should be sent to attend courses in
Party schools in order to intensify their class conscious-
ness and to prepare them for work among the masses of
women. Special courses, lectures and discussions for women
can be organized only in case of special conditions and ur-
gent necessity.
In order to enhance the spirit of comradeship among male
and female workers it is desirable not to organize separate
courses of schools, but to establish, in the general Party
schools, sections for courses for work among women. Ihe
Sections exercise a right to elect a certain number of their
women members for attendance at the general Party
courses.
Construction of the Sections or Committees of work Sec-
tions among the women must be organized by each iParty t
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— 176 —
Local Executive, District Executive and the Central Execu-
tive Ccmimittee of the Party,
Each party decides for itself the numbers of members in
these Sections or Committees. The number of members of
the Sections, who are paid by the Party, is also fixed by f a^ li
party according to the possibilities.
The director or chairman of the local Committees or Sec-
tions must be a member of the local Party Committee.
Where this is not the case, the Director of the Section is
present at all meetings of the Party Committiee with the right
of decisive vote on all questions of the women's Commit-
tees and with a consultative vote on all other questions.
Besides the duties of the district Section or Committee
above mentioned, the following tasks are also part of »heir
work : to maintain connections between the Sections of one
districts ; to mobilize the- efficient party workers for work
tivity of the district Sections or Committees; to facilitate
the exchange of material between the local branches ; to sup-
ply the district with literature ; distribute agitators among the
districts; to mobolize the efficient party workers for work
among women; to call district conferences of the women
Communists, representatives of branches, with a representa-
tion of one or two from each Branch, at least twice a year ;
to call non-party conferences of women-workers, peasant
women and housewives of a particular district. The mem-
bers of the Section or the Committee are approved by the
provincial Committee or the county Committee on recom-
mendation by the Director of the Section. The director as
the other members of the county Committees and province ^
Committees, are elected at the conferences of the county.
Members of the district or local Sections or Committees
are elected at a general city, county or district conference, or
are appointed by the respective Section in agreement with
the Party Committee. If the director of the Section is not a
member of the district Party Committee, he has thj right
to be present at all meetings of the party Committee witlua ,
gitizedbyCjOOgle
— 177 —
decisive vote on all questions of the Branch, and with a con-
sultative vote on all other questions.
Besides all the functions, above mentioned, which are the
duties of the district Sections, the Central section must ful-
iill the following additional functions: Instruct the Sec-
tions and their workers; investigate the work of the Sec-
tion ; take charge, in connection with the respective organs of
the party,, of the transfer of workers from one Section to
another; observe the conditions and development of work,
considering the changes in the legal or economic situation of
the women, through its representatives or appointees; parti-
cipate in Special Committees, solving the questions of bet-
tering the conditions of existence of the working class, pro-
tection of labor, protection of Childhood, etc. ; publish a cen-
tral "page" 'and edit periodical journals for women; call
conferences of the representatives of all the district Sections
not less than once a year ; organize agitational excursions of
instructors on work among the women of the country ; take
charge of the recruiting of women and of the participation
of all Sections in all sorts of political and economic cam-
paigns and demonstrations of the Party ; send delegates to
the International Secretariat of Women Communists; take
charge of the annual International Women's day.
If the Director of the women's Section of the Executive
Committee of the Party is not a member of the Executive
Committee, he has the right to be present at all the meetings
of the Executive Committee with a decisive vote on all ques-
tions concerning the Sections, and with a consultative vote
on all others. The director of the Section or the chairman
of the Committee is appointed by the Central Executive or
is elected at the general Party Congress. The decisions and
resolutions of all Sections or Committees are subject to the
final sanction of the respective Party Committee.
Work on an International Basis
The direction of the work of the Communist Parties of all
countries, uniting the women workers for the tasks set ^qqqJp
gi ize y ^
— 178 —
the Comintern, and drawing the women of all countries
and nations into the revolutionary struggle for the Soviet
system and the dictatorship of the working class, on a world
basis, is the task of the Women's Secretariat of the Comin-
tern.
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INTERNATIONAL UNION AMONG WOM-
EN COMMUNISTS AND THE INTER-
NATIONAL SECRETARIAT OF
WOMEN COMMUNISTS
(Adopted at the Session of July Uth, 1921)
The Second International conference of women commu-
nists calls upon the Communist Parties of all Western and
Eastern countries to select international correspondents,
through their respective Women's Committees, in accordance
with the regulations laid down by the Third International.
Each of these correspondents is pledged, in accordance
with the regulations we refer to, to maintain constant lela-
tions with the International women correspondents of other
countries, as well as with the international Secretariat of
Communist Women in Mpscow, as the administrative or-
gan of the Executive Committee of the Third International.
The various Communist Parties are bound to supply tl.eir
respective correspondents with the technical means required
to enable them to keep up relations among themselves and
with Moscow. Once in every six months the international
women correspondents gather for consultation and exchange
of views with the representative of the Internatinoal Wom-
en's Secretariat, while the latter is also empowered to call
emergency meetings at any time.
In conjunction with the Executive Committee and in close
touch with the international correspondents of various coun-
tries, the International Women's Secretariat at Moscow is to
fulfil the duties imi>osed upon it by the regulations. In par-
ticular it must foster by word and deed the development of
the communist women's movement in those countries where ^ j
Digitized by LjOOQIC
— 180 —
it is still too weak. It must further the c(»mnunist women's
movement in all the Western and Eastern countries, giving
It unified directions for activity and combat ; it must inaugu-
rate national and international action of women, under the
guidance and vigorous support of the communists, and also
initiate national and international movements, tending to
widen and intensify the class struggle of the proletariat
through the impetus lent it by the women. In order to es-
tablish close and regular connections with the communist
women's movement of all countries, the International Wom-
en's Secretariat of Moscow attaches to itself an auxiliary
secretariat organ for work in Western Europe. This latter
organization is to do preliminary work for the Women's In-
ternational Secretariat and is to be merely an Executive,
not a l^slative organ, bound in its activity by the decisions
and directions of the general secretariat in Moscow and of
the Executive Committee of the Third International.
The Western European Auxiliary organization is to have
at least one permanent representative on the Genral Secre-
tariat. In so far as the composition and the scope of ac-
tivity of the general secretariat is already fixed by the regula-
tions, the Executive Committee of the Third International,
in conjunction with the International Women's Secretariat,
likewise decides upon the construction, composition and ac-
tivity of the auxiliary organization.
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FORMS AND METHODS OF COMMUNIST
ACTIVITY AMONG WOMEN
(Adopted at the Session of June 13th, 1921)
The Second International Women's Conference at Moscow
declares: The decay of capitalist industry and of the civil
order resting on it, makes it ever more and more imperati\c,
and imposes it as a life's necessity and duty, for the pro-
letariat to carry on the revolutionary struggle for the con-
quest of political power and the establishment of its dictator-
ship, which can only be achieved if the wide masses of the
working women consciously, determinedly and self -sacri-
ficingly join hands with the men in the struggle. In those
countries where the proletariat has already seized the power
and has already established its dictatorship in the form of
the Soviet system, as in Soviet Russia, it is impossible for
the proletariat to maintain the power against national and
international counter-revolution, and to start the up-build-
ing of the emancipating commtmist order, unless the wide
masses of the working women are imbued with the clear
and unshaken conviction that tl t work of defence and re-
construction is also their work.
The Second International Conference of Communist
Women in Moscow therefore calls upon the Communist
Parties of all countries, in accordance with the principles
and resolutions of the Third International to exert them-
selves in the most energetic manner, and see to it that
the wide masses of the working women be rallied around
the banner of Communism and be aroused for the revolu-
tionary struggle and revolutionary construction; that they
be organized and trained to join the ranks of the Commu-
nist Parties and to take part in the revolutionary struggle ^r^ j
byV^OOgie
~ 182 —
and revolutionary construction, and that the will, power and
the capabilities of the masses of women be made class-con-
scious, fortified and aroused. In order that this aim be
achieved, all the Communist Parties affiliated to the Third
International are pledged to institute women's committees
in all their organizations and institutions from the smallest
to the largest, under the directions of one of the members
of the Party, whose task it should be to carry on agitation
and education work among the masses of working wouien.
They should also see to it that the working women have their
representatives in all bodies of the Party. These Women's
Committees are not to form isolated nuclei within the Com-
munist Party, but should serve as administrative organs
thereof for certain definite tasks. These are to mobilize
and agitate the masses of working women for the struggle
for the conquest of political power and for Communist con-
struction. They are therefore to work at all times in dose
organic contact with the Party as a whole, but they must
possess the necessary elasticity and freedom to work out
such methods and forms of work which they regard as prop-
er for the successful carying oA of activity, in accordance
with the peculiarity of women's nature, and the peculiar
position which women still occupy in the social scale and
in the family. The theses worked out by the Conference
is a guide for the activity of the Women Committees. The
Women's Departments of the Communist Parties must al-
ways bear in mind the double task imposed upon them ; to
instil clear understanding and determined will-power among
the ever wider circles of women for the class struggle,
against exploiting capitalism and for Communism; and sec-
ondly, to transfer them into intelligent self-sacrificing' help-
ers in communist constructive work, after the proletarian
revolution has achieved its success. Out of the ranks of the
awakened women masses the Communist Parties of all coun-
tries must form a central army of trained comrades which
should be able to take the lead. The women's organiza-
tions of the Communist Parties must bear in mind that it i#qIc
— 183 —
not only the written and spoken words that can serve as
mehods which must be applied, but also the co-operation of
organized Communist Wcnnen in all the spheres of activity
of struggle and of construction carried on by the Commu-
nist Party, also the active participation of the working
women, in all the actions and fights of the revolutionary pro-
letariat, such as strikes, general uprisings, street demonstra-
tions and armed rebellions.
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THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL AND
THE YOUNG COMMUNIST MOVEMENT
{Adopted at the 24th Session, July 24th, 1921)
1. The Young Socialist Movement arose as a conse-
. quence of the acute capitalist exploitation of the young
workers, as a reaction against the attack of the bourgeois
militarism to poison the minds of the yotmg workers with
the bourgeois national ideology, and as a revolt against
the neglect of the economic, political and cultt^ral demands
of the young workers by the Social-Democratic parties and
trade unions in the majority of countries.
The creation of Young Socialist organizations in most
countries lock place without the assistance of the Social-
Democratic Party and Trade Unions, continually increas-
ing in their opportunism and reformism, and in some coun-
tries, the Young Socialist organizations were formed even
directly against the will of these organizations. The Re-
formist Social-Democratic Party and trade unions see in the
revolutionary Young Socialist organizations a serious men-
ace to their opportunist policy. By bureaucratic measures
and the discouraging of all independence, they attempt to
retard the Young Socialist Movement, to alter its character,
and impose their policy upon it.
2. The imperialist war and the attitude of the Social-
Democratic parties in the majority of countries towards it,
necessarily led to the contradictions between the Social-
Democratic parties and international revolutionary Young
Socialist organizations becoming more acute, and to open
conflicts. During the war the condition of the young work-
ers as a consequence of mobilization and military service,
the increased exploitation in the war industries, and m9i- j
gitizedbytjOOgle
— 185 —
tarizatioa at home became intolerably worse. The best sec-
tion of Young Socialists opposed nationalism and the war,
split off from the Social-Democratic parties/ and took up
their own political action (the International Young Social-
ist Conference in Berne in 1915, Jena 1916).
in its struggle against the war, the Young SociaUst or-
ganizations were supported by the best of the revolutionary
groups of the adult organizations, and thus became the rally-
ing point of revolutionary forces. ' In this manner the Young
Socialist organizations undertook the functions. of a revolu-
tionary party, and became the vanguard in the revolution-
ary struggle, and politically independent organizations.
3. With the establishment of the Communist Interna-
tional, and the Communist parties in the various countries,
the role of revolutionary Young Socialist organizations in
the general proletarian movement changed. Owing to their
economic position and their pecuUar psychology, the Young .
Workers are more susceptible to Commtmist ideas, and, in
the struggle, display a greater revolutionary enthusiasm
than the adult workers ; but the role of vanguard in the form
of independent political action and political leadership has
been taken over by the Communist Party. The existence
of the Young Communist organizations as politically inde-
pendent and leading organizations, must lead to the exis-
tence of two competing Communist Parties, which will be
distinguished only by the ages of their members.
4. The functions of the Young Communist organiza-
tions at the present time consist in oganizing the masses of
young workers and drawing them into the Communist fight-
ing front. The time has passed when the Young Commu-
nist Organizations could remain numerically small propa-
ganda organizations. As a method of winning the broad
masses of young workers we must consider new methods
of agitation and the introduction of a leadership of economic
struggles. i '-^it<1
In accordance with its past, the Young Ccnnmunist or-
ganizations must extend and increase their educational worki t
^oogle
- 186-
The basis of Communist education in the Young Commu-
nist movement is the active participation in all revolutionary
struggles,. closely bound with the teaching of Marxism.
A further important task of the Yotmg Communist or-
ganziations in the immediate future is the breaking up of the
Centrist and Social-Democratic ideology among the young
workers, and the removal of the latter from the influence
and leadership of the Social-Democrats. At the same time
the Young Communist organizations must do everything in
the development of the mass movement, to rejuvenate the
movement by giving up its older members to the Commu-
nist Parties.
The fundamental diflference between the Young Commu-
nist organizations and the young centrist and social-demo-
cratic organizations lies in their participation in all political
problems; in the work and construction of Communist
, parties, and in the active participation in revolutionary
struggle.
5. The relations between the Young Communist organi-
zations and the Communist Party are fundamentally differ-
ent to those of the revolutionary Young Socialist organiza-
tions and the Social-Democratic Parties. In the general
struggle for the realization of proletarian revolution, it is
necessary to have the greatest possible unity and the strong-
est centralization. The political leadership internationally
can only be conducted by the Communist International, and
nationally by the various national sections. The duty of
the Young Communist organizations is to submit to this po-
litical leadership (programme, tactics and political direc-
tions), and to join the general revolutionary front. In view
of the varying stages of revolutionary development of the
Communist parties in various, countries it is necessary that
the application of this principle in exceptional cases be deter-
mined by the Executive Committees of the Communist In-
ternational and the Young Communist International, in ac-
cordance with the special circumstances of the case. The re-
lation of the Young Commimist organizations, which have
Digitized by LjOOQIC
— 187 ^
organized their ranks on the basis of the strictest centraliza*
tion, to the Communist Party, the bearer and the leader of
the proletarian revolution, will be that of iron discipline.
The Young Communist organizations within their own or-
ganization, must concern themselves with all questions of pol-
icy and tactics, and also take up a position with regard to
the Communist Party, in their respective countries, but never
to oppose the accepted resolutions of the Party. In the
event of a serious difference of opinion betwen the Com-
munist Party and the Young Communist organizations, the
latter may take advantage of their right to appeal to the Com-
munist International. The task of this political dependence
in no way implies the abandonment of its organizational in-
dependence, which on educational grounds canot be per-
mitted.
• 6. One of the immediate and most important tasks of
Young Communist organizations is to make a clean sweep of
the remnant's of the ideology of political leadership left over
from the period of absolute autonomy. The Young Com-
munist press, and the organizations as a whole, must be em-
ployed for the purpose of instilling into the minds of the
Young Communists the consciousness of being soldiers and
responsible members of a Communist Party.
The Young Communist organizations must devote the
greatest possible attention, time and effort to this task, at the
period when it is beginning to win over large sections of the
young workers for the mass movement.
7. The close political co-operation of the Young Commu-
nist organizations with the Communist Party must be ex-
pressed in close organizational bonds between the two or-
ganizations. It is essential to have permanent mutual repre-
sentations of the organizations at the Party headquarters,
district and local organizations, down to* the lowest unit
of the Communist groups in the factories, in the Trade
Unions, as well as mutual representation at all conferences
and congresses. In this manner it will be possible for the
Communist Party to have a lasting influence on the polMcal t
igi ize y ^
— 188 —
policy and activity of the young organizations, and to hdp
the Young Communist organizations; the latter on the other
hand will be able to influence the Party.
8. The relations between the Communist International
and the Communist parties still more closely determine the
relations between the Young Communist International and
the Communist International. The functions of the Young
Communist International consists of the centralized leader-
ship of the Young Commtmist Movement to support and
advance the various leagues by moral and material means,
to create Young Communist organizations where these do
not exist, and to conduct propaganda for the Young Com-
mtmist International. The Young Communist International
is a section of the Communist International, and as such,
submits to the decisions of the Congresses of the Commu-
nist International and the Executive Conunittee. Withip
these limits it conducts its work and acts as the agent of the
political will of the Communist International in all its ac-
tions. By means of a strong mutual delegation and close
lasting co-operation, the permanent control of the Commu-
nist International and the fruitful labor of the Young Ccwn-
munist International in all spheres of activity (leadership,
agitation, organization, strengthening and supporting the
Communist Organizations) will be guaranteed.
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J
TO THE GERMAN PROLETARIAT! DEC-
CLARATION OF SYMPATHY WITH
MAX HOELZ
(Adopted at the 4th Session, June 25th, 1921)
The German bourgeoisie has added to the 2,000 years
sentences of imprisonment and disciplinary detention, im-
posed by it on our comrades in connection with the March
uprising, the sentence to incarceration for life on
MAX HOELZ.
The Communist International is opposed to individual acts
of terrorism and sabotage unless they serve the interests of
the class war. It is also opposed to guerilla warfare con-
ducted by independent bands without any guidance from the
organized proletariat. But the Communist International re-
gards Max Hoelz as a bold rebel against capitalist society,
whose discipline is the discipline of the detention house and
whose order is being imposed by brute force. His actions
were not expedient, for the white terror can be broken only
by a mass rising of the workers, which is the only weapon
for the achievement of the triumph of the proletariat. But
we recognize that he has been actuated by his love for the
proletariat and his hate for the bourgeoisie.
Therefore the Congress sends fraternal greetings to Max
Hoelz; recommends him to the protection of the German
Proletariat, and expresses the hope that he will fight for the
emancipation of the German workers in the ranks of the
German Communist Party.
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A CALL TO NEW WORK AND NEW STRUG-
GLES ADDRESSED TO THE PROLE-
TARIAT OF ALL COUNTRIES BY
THE EXECUTIVE COMMIT-
TEE OF THE COMMUNIST
INTERNATIONAL
(Adopted at the Session of the Executive
on the l7thof July, 1921)
To the Proletariat of all Countries
The third Congress of the Communist International is
over. The great review of forces of the Communist prole-
tariat of all countries is ended. It has shown that during
the past year, in a number of countries in-which Communism
has just begun to appear it has grown into a great power
capable of moving the masses and of threatening capitalism.
The Communist International which at its first Constituent ^ — ^
Congress represented besides Russia only smalj groups of /
comrades, and which at its Second Congress sought for/
means of creating mass parties, has now at its disposal not
only in Russia, but also in Germany, Poland, Czecho-Slo-
vakia, Italy, France, Norway, Jugo-Slavia and Bulgaria,
parties around whose banner great masses are rallying. The
Third Congress is now addressing a call to the communists
of all countries to follow this path further and to do all they
can, in order to unite ever greater millions and millions of
workers in the ranks of the Communist International. The
power of capitalism can be broken down only when the idea
of Communism will be embodied in the tremendous impetus
Digitized by VjOOQIC
— 191 —
of the greater majority of the proletariat, led by communist
mass parties encircling the fighting proletarian class in an
iron Solidarity. "To the masses" is the first slogan ad-
dressed by the Third International to the commimists of
all cc^ntries.
Forward to New Great Battles
These masses are coming to us, streaming into our parties,
because world capitalism is proving ever clearer and ever
more palpably that the only way of prolonging its own life
is by ruining the whole world and increasing ever more the
chaos, poverty and enslavement. of the masses. In view of
the world economic crises, which are driving millions of
workers into the streets, the cry of the social democratic
flunkeys of capitalism "produce more!" is now hushed up,
as well as the call of the bourgeois class which it used to ad-
dress to the workers for years and years "work ! work !"
The cry for work is becoming the war cry of the working
class, and it will be realized only on the ruins of capitalism,
when the proletariat will itself be in possession of the means
of production which it has created. The capitalist world is
on the eve of new wars. The American- Japanese, the Eng-
lish-French, the French-German, the Polish-German compli-
cations, the complications in the Near and Far East, are all
driving Europe to increase armaments. They are arousing
the terrible question: "Must Europe again tread the path
of a new world war?" It is not the murder of millions that
the capitalists are fearing. Already since the war, they have
coolly condemned millions of people to death through starva-
tion by their policies as well as by their blockade of Russia.
\Vhat they are afraid of is that a new war will finally drive
the masses into the army of the world revolution, that it will
mean the final uprising of the world proletariat. They are
trying therefore as they did before the war to bring about a
relaxing of the tension by diplomatic jugglery. But the re-
laxating of the tension in one place only signifies an increase
of the tension in another. The negotiations between Eng-
gitized by Google
— 192 —
land and America on the limitation of naval armaments of
both these countries are inevitably creating a battle f n^t
against Japan.
The Franco-English rapprochement delivers Germany to
France, and Turkey to England. Not peace, but a growing
unrest, a growing enslavement of the conquered nations by
the capitalism of the victorious countries; this is the result
of the endeavors of world capitalism to bring order into the
ever-growing world-chaos. The capitalist press is now talk-
ing of an era of world prosperity and calm because the Ger-
man bourgeoisie has submitted to the dictatorship of the
Allies, and, in order to save its power, has delivered up the
German people to the hyenas of the Paris and London Stock
Exchanges. But, at the same time, this same press is full
of the development of the economic crisis in Germany, the
unheard of taxes which in autumn will pour down like hail '
upon the masses doomed to unemployment, thus raising the
price of every morsel of food, of every scrap of clothing.
The Communist International, which is basing its policy on
a calm, practical observation of the world situation — for the
proletariat can only gain complete victory if it clearly sees
and understands the battlefield — says to the proletariat of
all countries: Capitalism up to now has proved itself in-
' capable of ensuring to the world the degree of order which
existed before the last war. It can only bring a prolonga-
tion of our sufferings, a prolongation of its own death pro-
cess. The world revolution is marchii^ on apace. The
foundations of capitalism are shaking everywhere. The
second call that the world congress of the Communist Inter-
national is sending to the proletarians of all countries is:
Forward to meet new great battles! Arm yourselves for
new struggles. Straighten out the general battlefront of
the proletariat !
The world bourgeoisie is incapable of ensuring work and
bread, housing and clothing to the workers ; but it is show-
ing its great capacity for organizing the war against the
world proletariat. Since the moment of its first
ff^yC^ogle
gitized
— 193 —
barrassment and since it has overcome its fear of the workers
returning home from the war, since it has managed to drive
the workers into the factories again and to overthrow their
first attempts at revolt since it has succeeded, in spite of the
war, in prolonging the agreement with the Social Demo-
cratic and Trade Union betrayers of the proletariat to keep
the workers divided, splitting the latter, it has been directing
all its efforts to organizing a white guard against the prole-
tariat and to disarming the workers. The world bourgeoisie
^s armed to the teeth. It is ready, not only to repulse all
uprisings of the proletariat by force of arms, but it knows
how to provoke, when necessary, premature uprisings of
the proletariat which is only yet preparing for the struggle
in order to defeat it before the general unconquerable front
will have assembled. The Communist International must
set its own strategy against such strategy of the world -
bourgeoisie. The Communist International has only one
infallible weapon against the cash-boxes of world capitalism,
which sets armed brigands against the organized proletariat,
namely, the proletarian masses, the united compact front of
the pcpletariat.
The cunning and the power of the bourgeoisie must give
way before the onrush of the close ranks of the millions of
proletarians ; then the railroads, which carry the white guards
of the bourgeoisie against the proletariat will come to a
standstill. There will be panic among some sections of the
white guards. The proletariat will seize their arms in order
to turn them against other white guard formations. If we
succeed in leading the united proletariat into the struggle,
capitalism and the world bourgeoisie will be deprived of the
most important guarantee for victory, i.e., the faith in vic-
tory which has been restored to them only through the
treachery of Social Democracy and the splitting up of the
working masses. Only by winning the hearts of the major-'
ity of the working class can the victory over capitalism be
achieved. The Third Congress of the Communist Inter-
national appeals to the Communist parties of all countries
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— 194 — ' '
and to the Communists within the trade-unions to use their
whole strength and all their efforts in order to free the
widest possible masses of workers from the influence of the
Social Democratic parties and the treacherous trade-union
bureaucracy. This is only possible if the Communists of all
countries prove themselves, in these trying times, when
every day brings new privations for workers, the champions
of the workers in all their every-day needs, by leading them
in the struggle for more bread and for the- lessening of the
burdens which capitalism is imposing on them in ever-in-
oreasing measure. It is essential to show the working
masses, that it is the Communists alone, who are fighting
for the betterment of their conditions, and that the Social
Democrats and the reactionary trade-union bureaucrats*
rather than fight, would see the proletariat perish before
their eyes. We cannot beat the betrayers of the proletariat
and the agents of the bourgeoisie by theoretical discussions
on democracy and dictatorship, but only by supporting the
workers in their struggles for bread, for wages, for houses
and all the necessaries of life. The most important .battle-
field on which we must meet them and conquer them is the
field of the Trade-Union movement, the struggle against
the Yellow Amsterdam Trade Union International, the
struggle for the Red Trade Union International. It is a
struggle over the question of capturing the enemy forts
within our own camp, and a struggle for the formation of
a battle front before which world capitalism must give way.
Steer clear of centrist tendencies and develop the fighting
spirit. It is only through the struggle for the ordinary needs
and interests of the workers that we can build up a united
front of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, and put an
end to the splitting up of the proletariat, which is the basis
for the continued existence of the bourgeoisie. But this
proletarian front can only grow strong and eager for battle
if it is kept together and led by strong and united Commun-
ist Parties with an iron discipline. Therefore the Third
World Congress of the Communist International joins tm
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^ ' — 195 —
its call: "To the masses! Build up a united proletarian
front' " by the further call to the Communists of all coun-
tries : "Keep your ranks clear of elements capable of vitiating
the fighting morale and the fighting discipline of the shock
troops of the world proletariat — the Communist Parties/'
The Communist International Congress confirms the expul-
sion of the Italian Socialist Party until the latter severs all
connection with the reformists and expels tliem from its
ranks. By this decision the Congress expresses its belief
that the Communist International cannot harbor in its ranks
reformists (whose object is not the proletarian revolution,
•but reconciliation with the bourgeois and the latters' reform),
if it is to lead millions of workers into the revolutionary
struggle. Armies which tolerate leaders who contemplate
reconciliation with the enemy are always sold and betrayed
to their enemy by these very leaders.
The Communist International has also recognized the
fact that there are still temnants of reformist tendencies in
various parties although the latter had excluded the reform-
ists from, their ranks, and that these parties, while not
working for the reconciliation with the enemy, are neverthe-
less not sufficiently energetic in their propaganda against
capitalism, and for. the revolutionizing of the masses. Par-
ties, which in their daily work fail to become the inspiration
of the masses, which are not capable of contintiously in-
creasing and strengthening the will to fight of the proletariat, .
by their own energy and impetuosity, such parties arc
bound to miss good opportunities for struggle, and to allow
spontaneous outbursts of the proletariat to remain without
results, as was the case in the occupation of the factories by
the Italian workers, and during the December strike in
Czecho- Slovakia. The Communist Parties must develop the
fighting spirit within their ranks. They must get ready to
become the General Staff of the revolutionary movement,
which will be able to make the best use of our forces. The
Third International says to you: "Be the vanguard of the
working masses when they begin to march forward; belheir
Digitized by VjOOQIC
— 196 —
heart and their brain. And to be the vanguard means — ^to
march at the head of the masses as their bravest, most con-
scious and most circumspect section. It is only by forming
such a vanguard, that the Communist Parties will be able,
not only to build up a united proletarian front, but also to
lead the proletariat to final victory.
Pit the strategy of the proletariat against the strategy of
capitalism. Prepare your battles.
The enemy is strong because for centuries he has had the
power in his hands; this has fostered in him the conscious-
ness of power and the desire to keep it. The enemy is strong
because he has l^een learning for centuries how to split, sub-
due and keep down the proletarian masses. The enemy is
experienced in the conduct of civil war, and therefore the
Third Congress of the Communist International calls upon
the Communist Parties of all countries not to leave out of
consideration the danger arising from the perfect strategy
of the ruling and possessing class, as against the faulty,
newly developing strategy of the proletariat, which is
struggling for power. The March events in Germany have
shown the great danger, that the front ranks of the working
class, the Communist vanguard of the proletariat, may be
forced by the enemy into the fight, before the gathering of
the great masses of the proletarians has taken place. The
Communist International has welcomed the ready assistance
given by hundreds of thousands of workers throughout
Germany to the menaced workers of Middle Germany. In
this spirit of solidarity, in the rising of the proletarians of
the entire country, and even of the entire world to defend
a menaced portion of the proletariat, the Communist Inter-
national sees the road to victory. It has welcomed the fact
that the United Communist Party of Germany placed itself
at the head of the working masses that hastened to the de-
fence of their menaced brothers. But at the same time, the
Communist International deems it its duty to declare frankly
and distinctly to the workers of all countries: When the
vanguard is unable to evade the open fight, when such fights
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— 197 —
cannot force the mobilization of the entire working class, the
vanguard must not let itself be drawn into decisive fights
alone and isolated, that when forced into isolated fight, the
vanguard of the proletarian army must evade the armed
clash with the enemy, because the source of the victory of
the proletariat over the armed white-guards consists in its
reliance upon the masses.
If it does not march as an overwhelming mass, the van-
guard must not expose itself to the armed enemy as an un-
amied minority. And the March events have taught yet
another lesson, to which the Communist International draws
the attention of the workers of all countries. The broad
masses of the workers must be prepared by constant, daily,
ever-increasing and extending revolutionary agitation for
the coming struggle which shall be entererd upon, under the
watchwords that have become familiar and understandable
to the widest proletarian masses. The strategy of the
enemy must be met by wise and deliberate strategy on the
part of the proletariat. The militant will of the front ranks
does not suffice, nor do their valor and determination. The
fight must be so prepared, so organized, that it shall bring
along the widest masses into the struggle, which should rec-
ognize it as the fight for their vital interests. The struggle
must mobilize the masses. The more advanced the position
of world-capitalism will be, the more it will attempt to pre-
vent the future victory of the Communist International by
destroying its front ranks isolated from the great mass. This
plan, this danger, must be met by an all-pervading, all-
arousing mass agitation of the Communist Parties, by vigor-
ous organizational activity which assures its influence upon*
the wide masses, and enables cool judgment of the battle
situations, by deliberate tactics of evading the fight against
superior forces of the enemy and by taking the offensive in
a situation where the enemy is divided and the masses united.
The Third World Congress of the Communist Interna-
tional recognizes that only through experience in fighting
will the working class form Communist Parties that will be
Digitized by VjOOQIC
— 198 —
able to attack the enemy with lightning rapidity wherever
he can be trapped in a tight corner, and to evade him where
he has the upper hand. It is therefore the duty of the
proletarians of all countries to appreciate and make use
internationally of any lessons that the working class in any
given country may have gathered through great sacrifices.
Take care of militant discipline!
The working class and the Communist Parties of all
countries prepare themselves not for a period of quiet agita-
tion and organization, but for prolonged struggle which
capital will now force upon the proletariat, in order to beat
it into submitting to all the burdens of capitalist policy. In
this fight the Communist Parties must develop the highest
militant discipline. Its Party leaders must cooly and delib-
erately consider all the lessons of the fight, thy must pru-
dently review the battlefield, uniting enthusiasm with the
greatest deliberation. They must forge their militant plans
and their tactical course in the spirit of collective thinking
of the entire Party, giving due consideration to all criticism
by comrades of the Party. But all the Party organizations
must unhesitatingly carry out the course adopted by the
Party. Every word and every step of every Partv orea-
nization must be subordinated to this purpose. The Parlia-
mentary factions, the press of the Party, the Party organiza-
tions must unwaveringly obey the order given by the Party
leadership.
The world review of the Communist front ranks has
ended. It has shown Communism to have become a world
power. It has shown that the Communist International has
to create and to form even greater armies of the proletariat.
It has announced our determination to carry these fights to
victory. It has shown to the world's proletariat how to
prepare and how to achieve this victory. It is now for the
Communist Parties of all countries to make the decisions of
the Congress, derived from the experiences of the world's
proletariat, the common knowedge of the Communists of
all countries, in order that every Communist working man
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' — 199 — ^ ■
sttid woman may become the leader of hundreds of non-
Communist proletarians in the struggles that are to come.
Long live the Communist International!
Long Live the World Revolution !
Get to work for the preparation and organization of our
victory !
The Executive of the Communist International
Germany: Heckert, Froehlich,
France: Souvarine.
Czecho- Slovakia: Burian, Kreibich, -^
Italy: Terracini, Gennari.
Russia: Zinoviev, Bucharin, Radek, Lenin, Trotsky,
Ukraine: Shumsky,
Poland: Warski.
Bulgaria: Popoff.
Jugo-Slavia: Marcovicz.
Norway: Scheffle,
England: Bell.
America: Baldwin.
Spain: Merino, Gracia.
Finland: Sirola.
Holland: Janson.
Belgium : Van Overstraaten.
Sweden: Tschilbum.
Latvia: Stutschka.
Switzerland: Amhold.
Austria: Koritschoner.
Hungary: Bela Kun.
Executive of the Young Communist International :
Munzenberg, Lekai.
Moscow, July 17th, 1921.
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